Finding Caroline
by starzee
Summary: SEQUEL to The Benefits of Overexposure: Three months go by and Caroline and Damon are best friends, Damon and Elena are dating, Tyler and Caroline are dating, until Caroline can't take it & leaves Mystic Falls without a trace and Damon goes to find her..
1. Gone

**This has taken me forever to start writing and I can only apologise for that. I know I have too many stories going at once but that's just how I am :/**

**This is for everyone that wanted a Caroline/Damon sequel to 'The Benefits of Overexposure'. I was put off for a while because I got a lot of messages from people saying that they hated that I made Elena a bitch, even though it was only compulsion. She wasn't a bitch when she wasn't compelled but I've gotten used to reviews now and I've grown a thicker skin and honestly, I have a group of fantastic readers who have stuck with me through other stories and they make it all worth it for me!**

**So genuinely, if you like the story, that's great :) if not, then by all means read someone else's story.**

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><p><strong>I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)<strong>

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><p>Finding Caroline<p>

_Sequel to 'The Benefits of Overexposure'_

Chapter 1

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><p>That's the moment she realised she was in love with him. The moment he said he would go on a date with Elena, she knew she was in love with Damon. She was so hurt because just before they'd gone to rescue Elena... He kissed her. He really kissed her. It wasn't like when they were drunk in the hotel... It was a different kind of kiss. If Katherine had called an hour later, they would have no doubt slept together. Damon hadn't even wanted to answer his phone but she'd made him do it. Caroline wanted to bang her head off a wall for being so stupid. Maybe she wasn't in love with him... Maybe she had just been spending too much time with him. She walked down the stairs to find Tyler in the living room.<p>

"Hey, do you want to hang out today?" Caroline asked him with a smile and he grinned back at her.

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><p>Damon was in his room with Elena, having just agreed to go on a date with her at some point when he overheard Caroline ask someone to hang out with her. He felt a little surprised considering they'd spent so much time together recently that she hadn't asked him.<p>

"_Sure, I'd love to. What do you want to do?_" Tyler replied and Damon's jaw clenched. Why would she hang out with the wolf knowing Tyler was in love with her? Damon felt a little jealous and was really surprised by that... but they did have that kiss. And what a kiss it was. His stomach fluttered at the memory of it.

"You alright?" Elena asked him and he snapped back into reality.

"Fine." He muttered. Elena noticed his shift in mood immediately.

"What did you hear that pissed you off so much?" She asked curiously.

"Caroline just asked Tyler to hang out with her." Damon mumbled as he went over to look out the window. Elena was shocked at his confession as he more or less just admitted to being jealous. Elena knew that she'd rocked the boat a lot recently but she figured if Damon had agreed to go out with her, surely he still wanted her. She couldn't really blame him and Caroline for getting closer with the way she'd been acting. "He's in love with her." Damon said.

"I know, I think she feels something for him too." Elena replied and Damon turned his head to look at her and narrowed his eyes.

"She's a vampire; she can't go out with a werewolf." Damon said.

"Why not?" Elena asked confused.

"It's unnatural." Damon said then looked out the window again. "I should probably go talk to her about that." Damon added then sped out of his room and down the stairs before Elena could reply. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Damon asked Caroline even though he saw she was leaving with Tyler.

"About?" She asked curiously.

"Vampire stuff." Damon muttered and she cocked an eyebrow.

"Ty, I'll meet you at the Grill." She said and Tyler nodded. "Let's go for a walk." She said to Damon and he nodded then the two of them left the house and walked into the woods. They'd been walking for about ten minutes before Caroline got the courage to ask. "So, what did you want to talk about?" She asked him.

"That kiss." He replied and her jaw dropped. She hadn't thought it meant anything to him.

"Why would you want to talk about that?" She asked confused.

"I wanted to know what you thought about it." Damon replied. "Because this time there is no drinking excuse and I'm sure things would have gone further if Katherine hadn't called." He said. She was surprised and a little annoyed with him then as he had _just_ agreed to go on a date with Elena.

"We were just messing around, Damon." She shrugged as she lied hoping he wouldn't see right through her.

"So it meant nothing to you?" Damon asked her and she could see that he was a little hurt by that but she couldn't just put herself out there for him to run back to Elena so she decided to stick with her lie.

"We're just friends, Damon." She replied softly.

"I think we should test it. Just so we know." Damon replied and she looked confused.

"What?" She asked.

"I'm going to kiss you and we can see if there's anything else there." Damon replied and before she could reply he was kissing her. She kissed him back as a natural response and now that she was aware of her feelings for him, it was better than ever. He cupped her cheeks and she held onto his back. Damon felt a spark. He felt for her. He was sure of it. He knew it went beyond friendship and it just felt so natural yet so passionate. He smiled against her lips then pulled away. She saw the smile on his face and gathered that he was happy he didn't feel anything. "So?" He asked her cheerily.

"You are a great kisser but I didn't feel anything besides friendship." She lied through her teeth and the smile faded from his face.

"Oh... Uh... Me too." He replied shakily and she felt even more confused. Damon couldn't believe they could have a kiss like that and she felt nothing! "Is that because of Tyler?" Damon asked her and she was even more stunned than before.

"Tyler and I are just friends." She replied and he nodded.

"He's in love with you." Damon replied and she looked shocked.

"No, he isn't." Caroline replied but Damon nodded.

"He is. He admitted it." Damon replied and Caroline gaped at him.

"Thank you." She rolled her eyes. "Now it's just going to be weird to hang out with him." She muttered.

"Why?" Damon asked confused.

"Because it's always weird when two friends hang out when one has feelings for the other." She shrugged and Damon figured that was her way of telling him that she didn't want to know if he had feelings for her, so he decided to bottle it up and lock it back tight. He didn't want to lose her as a friend.

"I can see why that would be weird." Damon nodded and Caroline frowned. Was that his way of telling her that he didn't want to know if she had feelings for him? "So this hanging out thing you talked about, do you want to do that tomorrow?" He asked her with a smile and she desperately wanted to say no but figured any time spent with him might get him to fall for her.

"Sure." She nodded. "What about Elena?" She asked and he shrugged in indifference.

"She can't leave the house when it's light out. We could do something tomorrow during the day." Damon suggested.

"No, I meant, I overheard you and her deciding to go on a date. Won't she be mad at you and I hanging out alone?" Caroline asked and Damon gave her a look of disbelief.

"It's none of her business who I hang out with. Besides, its one date that I promised her I'd go on before we left for the road trip. It's not like she's my girlfriend." Damon pointed out and Caroline smiled.

"Okay, we can hang out." She nodded. "Come and pick me up at 9am tomorrow. There's somewhere you and I should go." She smirked at him.

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><p>Damon spoke to Caroline for another few minutes then kissed her cheek just before he sped back into the house. Caroline touched her cheek absently as she sped to the Grill. Damon was happy he went to speak to her because he was getting to hang out with her tomorrow all day – but it hurt when she said she felt nothing for him. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts he didn't hear Elena call his name and was startled when she used her new vampire speed and sped in front of him.<p>

"Damon? Are you okay? I called your name and you didn't hear me." She said concerned and he tried to shake himself out of it.

"Yeah... Fine... Just... Tired. I'm going to bed." He said.

"Want me to sleep in your room tonight?" She asked with a small smile.

"That's sweet of you but I'd kind of like to be alone." He said and she nodded. That hurt a little as she could smell Caroline on the bed and was sure she'd slept next to Damon the night before. Damon said goodnight then went down to his room and closed the door. Elena was confused over his behaviour as he seemed to be distancing himself from her.

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><p>Damon woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. He was getting to hang out with Caroline. He jumped out of bed and showered then dressed and went downstairs to get himself some blood. Elena was sitting in the living room talking to Gianna.<p>

"Morning, ladies." Damon nodded then went into the kitchen. When he got himself some blood he went back through and took a seat in a chair across from the girls.

"So what are you doing today?" Elena asked with a smile.

"I'm hanging out with Barbie today. Apparently there's something she has to show me." He smirked. Gianna noticed the frown that appeared on Elena's face.

"Elena's a new vampire, Damon." Gianna said. She'd accepted that Elena was under compulsion when she said all those things so she wanted to get to know her.

"Can you watch her today?" Damon asked Gianna who cocked an eyebrow at him. "Elena can't go outside anyway." Damon pointed out.

"Sure." Gianna said to him.

"Anyway, gotta run. Don't want to be late." He said then downed his blood and raced out of the house before they could say anything. Gianna noticed the confused look on Elena's face.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm just confused about Damon and Caroline. He got pissed off last night when he heard Caroline asking Tyler to hang out with her." Elena said.

"The two of them got really close on the failed attempt at a road trip." Gianna said. "She was there for him when he found out Stefan died." She explained.

"And I didn't help things." Elena muttered.

"You were compelled. He knows that." Gianna said soothingly.

"I know." Elena nodded. "But I think that maybe he's started to fall out of love with me and fall in love with Caroline." She said.

"Caroline's not interested in Damon." Gianna replied. "She told us that it's not that she couldn't fall for him, it's that she won't let herself."

"So you don't think anything will happen between them?" Elena asked perking up a little.

"No." Gianna shook her head but secretly she really wasn't sure.

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><p>Damon went to pick Caroline up and knocked on her door. He grinned at the sight of her.<p>

"Morning, beautiful." Damon smirked and she giggled. She hated him for making her stomach flutter.

"Ready to go?" She asked and he nodded. The two of them got into his car and she told him where to go. He had no idea why she would want to go to the exhibition centre two towns over but didn't comment. When they got there they got out of the car and Caroline linked her arm with his as they walked in. Damon smirked at the move but flexed his elbow anyway. When they got to the entrance she stopped him and had a devious smile on her face. "Do you trust me, Damon?" She asked him and he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Yes." He replied and she smiled.

"Good." She said then stood behind him and covered his eyes.

"What are you doing?" He asked amused.

"Surprising you." She replied and he chuckled. He couldn't remember the last time someone wanted to surprise him with anything that wasn't bad. He let her walk him inside for a few minutes and people who saw them smiled fondly at Caroline, no doubt figuring she was there to surprise her boyfriend. "Ready?" She asked when they stopped and he chuckled.

"Why not?" He asked her and she took her hands away. His eyes opened and his jaw dropped as he surveyed the huge hall. She'd taken him to a classic car convention. He could see really rare cars as well as famous ones and ones for sale and there was even a concept car section.

"So?" She asked him amused watching his gobsmacked expression. He turned and hugged her.

"This is so awesome!" He exclaimed and she giggled. He couldn't stop himself so he pecked her on the lips but didn't register as he took her hand then dragged her over to the concept cars. Caroline was thinking in overdrive at his reaction as he'd kissed her again and was now holding her hand even though she knew he was busy paying attention to the cars and not the fact that they were holding hands. She didn't want to let go and draw attention to the fact that they'd been holding hands but she wasn't sure if she could keep holding his hand as when he finally noticed, she wasn't sure how he would react to the fact that she hadn't let go. She let go to read a pamphlet though she couldn't care less what it said on it, she just wanted something to do with her hands.

The two of them spent hours at the convention and Caroline managed to have a lot of fun, even though cars weren't really her thing. Damon was having a blast with her too. He thought it was so sweet of her to take him to the convention. They had lunch together at the convention even though neither of them needed it. On their way back to Mystic Falls, Damon really didn't want to have to stop hanging out with her.

"You know, we never did have that drink at your dad's place." Damon shrugged.

"Aren't you sick of me already?" She teased and he chuckled.

"Nope." He replied with a smile and she smiled back.

"Then let's go back to my dad's place." She nodded.

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><p>Damon didn't go back to the boarding house until the following morning as he and Caroline had drank so much they passed out on the couch. He'd had such a great day with her and couldn't wipe the smile from his face.<p>

"Where the hell have you been?" Gianna asked him annoyed when he came in and he shrugged.

"I passed out on Barbie's couch last night." He said and Elena glanced at Gianna.

"Is something going on between you two?" Gianna asked.

"No." Damon shook his head. "We're just friends." He said trying to sound as normal as possible but Gianna had known him a long time and knew that being just friends with Caroline wasn't what he wanted.

"Okay, so are you going to train Elena today?" Gianna asked and Damon shrugged.

"If she wants." Damon said.

"Do you have a thing for Caroline?" Gianna asked quietly.

"No." He said too quickly but Gianna didn't comment.

"When are you going on your date with Elena?" Gianna asked and Damon looked surprised.

"Uh... I don't know. Whenever she wants." He shrugged. He had forgotten about it... Weird.

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><p>It was three days later that he finally went on his date with Elena. He felt a little distracted but tried his best not to let it show. She'd given him chances before and she deserved hers. He did end up having a good time with her and did kiss her at the end of the night. He didn't feel the same spark with her as he had before but he ignored that. Caroline didn't want to be anything more than friends so he just had to forget their kisses and just be her friend. He saw Caroline every day and usually spent most days with her and he hung out with Elena on some nights. Gianna and Vin opted to stay with him in Mystic Falls for a while.<p>

The weeks went by and he had one or two dates with Elena per week and after his third date with her, Caroline started dating Tyler. Damon was not happy about it. In fact he was like a bear with a sore head most of the time. Damon never talked about Elena with Caroline and Caroline never talked about Tyler with Damon. It was like an unspoken rule. After the fourth week of dating, Elena was started to get annoyed with Damon as he hadn't made a move to do anything more than kiss her. She thought that she was making progress with him but wouldn't let herself fall for him until the Caroline issue worked itself out and that didn't seem to be happening. Tyler was also frustrated with Caroline as she spent almost all of her time with Damon and when she was with Tyler, she told him about things she and Damon got up to and practically talked about him all the time. Damon was the same with Elena but promptly stopped when she told him she wasn't interested in hearing every detail of his weird friendship with Caroline. Elena and Caroline hardly spoke to each other anymore and neither did Damon and Tyler.

Elena decided to confront Damon about why he didn't want to have sex with her as any time she tried to take things to the next level he would rattle off some excuse about being tired or it wasn't the right time. He'd just come in from hanging out with Caroline and Elena saw the big smile on his face when he walked in the door which faded a tiny bit when he saw her. That hurt.

"Can we talk?" She asked him and he nodded. "This is kind of awkward... but... why don't you want to have sex with me?" She asked him after he sat down and his eyes widened.

"It's not that I don't want to... It's just we haven't been seeing each other that long." He pointed out.

"We've been seeing each other for six weeks, Damon. We've had like fifteen dates. I've never once heard you call me your girlfriend either, by the way. We've been seeing each other long enough to take it up to that." She replied and she noticed that he was really uncomfortable.

"Fine, I didn't want to say this to you... but it was only two months ago that you were sleeping with my brother." Damon replied and her jaw dropped. "I just wanted time to get over that before we escalated things." He said.

"It still bothers you?" She asked in a softer voice and he shrugged.

"You and I both know that we wouldn't be seeing each other now if he hadn't died and turned out to be a two faced bastard." Damon replied.

"So you think I'm only with you because Stefan's not around anymore?" She asked in disbelief.

"I don't think that all the time. But I don't want to take our relationship up a level until I don't ever think that." Damon replied. He didn't actually think that anymore but he could hardly say 'I don't want to have sex with you because I'm in love with someone else'.

"Damon, I only want to be with you." She replied. "If Stefan was magically brought back from the dead, it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to me." She said and Damon felt bad.

"I just need a little time." He said softly. He could try to fall for Elena again... He could try to get over Caroline...

"Okay." She nodded. "We have time. Neither of us is getting any older now." She smiled. "This doesn't have anything to do with Caroline, right?" She asked him and he had to keep his face calm so the shock wasn't evident that she'd noticed.

"No, Caroline and I are just friends." Damon replied. He hoped she hadn't noticed his lie but she hadn't seemed to and smiled at him.

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><p>When Elena and Damon had been together for three months, Elena had enough. All Damon ever did was hang out with Caroline and he always seemed so happy around her and Elena knew he was in love with her. It hurt a little but because she'd been prepared for it for so long, she wasn't broken hearted about it. She still went on dates with Damon and they still kissed, though things hadn't progressed like he'd said they would. She overheard Tyler telling Jeremy that Caroline hadn't slept with him either and Elena knew it was because she was in love with Damon. She and Tyler seemed to be in the exact same boat. Elena had tried getting Damon to fess up to his feelings but he always denied it and she knew that she would have to do something drastic to get him to admit it. She couldn't keep going out with him knowing he loved someone else. She knew that he was trying to make an effort to be with her and she knew that he was trying to be in love with her again and that made her unable to be angry at him for it. He'd never cheated on her with Caroline, she knew that too. It was three months since their first date and she had her plan in place. She had no idea what she was going to do if it backfired though. She asked Vin and Gianna to go out for the evening so that she had the boarding house to herself. She put on a dress and did her makeup then made dinner and set the table with candles and just as she served it, Damon came in.<p>

"What's all this?" He asked confused.

"It's three months since our first date." She smiled at him and he looked shocked.

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot. I wouldn't have hung out with Barbie today if I'd remembered." He said ashamed and she smiled.

"That's okay. Come. Sit." She said and he did. They ate dinner and talked and it was nice. Elena knew she was going to miss him. "So." She smiled when they were finished.

"So." He smirked.

"Damon, I wanted to talk to you about something." She said and he looked a little nervous.

"About what?" He asked and he felt the panic rise up in him.

"Well..." She said then moved to take his hand from across the table. "Damon Salvatore, will you marry me?" She asked and his eyes practically bugged out of his head.

"What did you just say?" He asked in disbelief.

"Things have been great between us and I want you to marry me." She said and she saw the pure panic in his face. She saw in his expressions that he didn't want to hurt her and knew that he loved her but she wasn't Caroline. She knew that. She didn't actually want to marry him; she just needed to force a reaction. "Do you love me?" She asked.

"Yes." He replied because he did love her... he just wasn't in love with her. Then he noticed the sad smile on her face.

"But you're not in love with me, Damon. You're in love with, Caroline." She said to him softly and his eyes widened again. "I think I knew all along." She said softly. "I just hoped that maybe things would change. Damon, you need to tell her. She loves you too." Elena said and she saw tears welling in his eyes. He realised that she wasn't really asking him to marry her.

"I never wanted to hurt you." Damon said softly and Elena nodded.

"I know that. You didn't really. I could have fallen in love with you, but I didn't let myself because I knew you weren't mine to keep. I'll never regret the three months we spent together, Damon. But I think it's time you told the girl you love that you love her, before it's too late." Elena said.

"Elena... I'll do better. I'll try harder. I can... stop being friends with her." He said to her genuinely and she smiled. She was touched that he would do that for her but she could never do that to him.

"Damon, I love you." Elena said softly. "But I think it's the same way that you love me. You and I could be happy together if we stayed together, but it would never be the epic romance that both of us could find, you with Caroline and me with whoever I find that completes me the way she completes you."

"We could just take off somewhere and try for real." He said and she smiled.

"Tell you what? On my 100th birthday if I haven't found someone and you haven't, we'll get back together and just enjoy eternity together." She said and he chuckled.

"Deal." He smiled at her.

"Can we still be friends? You're one of the most important people in my life." She said.

"I'll always be there for you. We can be friends if you want that." He nodded.

"I do want that." She said. He stood up from the table and went around to her and pulled her on her feet. He cupped her cheeks and kissed her.

"How are you so amazing?" He asked her seriously and she giggled.

"Guess you're just lucky, Salvatore." She smirked and he laughed. "Now, go get her, before it's too late." She smiled.

"Thank you." He said sincerely.

"You're welcome, Damon." She said sincerely then he was gone. Elena was a hopeless romantic at heart and she had to smile at the fact that she'd managed to get Damon to follow his heart.

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><p>Damon went to Caroline's mother's house and jumped up to the window sill only to see that her room was empty. Completely bare. He found that strange but figured she probably moved into her father's apartment so he went there next. That thought surprised him as he was sure she would no doubt want him to lug her boxes... When he got to the door, there was an envelope stuck to it with tape with his name on it. He furrowed his eyebrows finding the whole situation strange. He opened the envelope and pulled out a letter and started to read.<p>

_My Dearest Damon,_

_You're probably wondering where I am right about now, since you probably went to my mom's house first... well... I left Mystic Falls. You're the best friend I've ever had and I adore you but I've been lying to you since that time we went into the woods to talk about the kiss. I did feel more and when you kissed me again, I lied when I said I didn't feel anything. I broke up with Tyler today and came over to the boarding house to tell you how I felt but when I got there, I overheard Elena asking you to marry her then when she asked if you loved her, you said yes._

_In that moment, I knew we couldn't be friends anymore. Not now, at least. I can't spend every day lying to you anymore. I can't lie in bed with you staring at the ceiling talking about a lot of crap like we always do because all I want to do is curl into you and keep you. God, I love you, Damon. I love you so much it hurts to be around you._

_I know that I'm your best friend, I know that without a doubt and I'm sorry for hurting you by leaving. I guess my vampire self-preservation instincts are kicking in because as much as it kills me to go, I have to. Maybe one day I'll get over you. If I do, I'll find you because I know I'll miss you more than I'd miss blood if I couldn't have it. You're probably worrying right about now about me being out in the world alone but you taught me well and I'll be fine. I'm going to travel a little then settle down somewhere. I might write you and let you know how I'm doing. I cancelled my phone number and my email because I can't talk to you yet. Please understand._

_As much as I love you, and I do, I want you to be happy. I hope you and Elena will be happy together. I wish you had chosen me but I'm not petty and you're still my best friend and I am happy for you. If you're happy, I'm happy._

_So, I've rambled a lot but I just wanted you to know that I know you never felt loved for most of your life but I'll always love you. You will always be loved. Remember that._

_Take care of yourself and I hope you'll think of me from time to time._

_I'll be thinking of you._

_Yours forever,_

_Caroline/Barbie/Blondie_

Damon was in tears for most of the letter and he wanted to stake himself for making her feel like that. He'd had no idea that she felt that way about him. He loved her and he felt like an idiot for not telling her...

He had to find her.


	2. Paris

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

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><p>Finding Caroline<p>

Chapter 2

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><p>The first thing Damon did was start making calls. He called a guy he knew that could track cars through GPS and gave him the license plate – she'd left her car at her mothers. He got her disconnected number put through so that he could find out where she was when she disconnected it – at her mother's. He called her mother – she had no idea. Typical.<p>

He checked the apartment for clues but all of her stuff was gone. He went to the bus station and compelled everyone there but nobody had seen her. He tried the train station – no luck. He called Bonnie to do a locator spell – Bonnie refused to help him as she wasn't speaking to Caroline still. Damon tried to convince her that Caroline could be in trouble but Bonnie wouldn't budge. Damon called the taxi company and tried every name he could think of – no luck. The last place he could check was the airport, otherwise he would literally be out of ideas. He would just have to compel his way on TV and beg her forgiveness if he couldn't find her.

He ran to the boarding house and packed himself a small travel bag with money and anything else he thought he might need. He wasn't really one for keeping a lot of belongings so his room was pretty bare when he left. Nobody was in the boarding house for him to tell – he'd call them later. He ran to his car then figured if he did fly somewhere after her, where the hell would he leave his car? So he left it at the boarding house and ran to Charlottesville airport.

Using pictures he had of her in his phone he compelled the airport to tell him if she'd been there. He finally realised that one of the ticket ladies was under compulsion and he tried everything he could until he had a thought. He compelled the woman to give him a full list of the flights then compelled her to tell him the flights she _wasn't_ on. He finally had it down to one flight – she was on a flight to Paris. By the time he'd gotten to the airport and figured out she was on her way to Paris, her flight had been gone for three hours. The next flight wasn't for another two hours so he had to just wait. He got himself a ticket then went to a bar to drown his sorrows.

He started to think over everything that had happened since their first game of honesty box. How could she not know that he was head over heels in love with her? Even his own sort-of girlfriend had known! He figured she wasn't remotely interested after she started to go out with Tyler. Tyler! Damon pulled out his phone and dialled the wolf's number.

"_Hey Damon._" Tyler answered pleasantly. They weren't on bad terms, they just both loved the same girl.

"Hey, do you know where Caroline is going?" Damon asked and Tyler sighed.

"_No, she just told me she was leaving Mystic Falls._" Tyler said.

"Do you have a way to contact her?" Damon asked.

"_I'm sorry, Damon. She didn't give me her new number. She said she couldn't risk me giving it to you._" Tyler said and Damon gulped.

"I have to find her." Damon said.

"_Do you love her too?_" Tyler asked softly.

"Yes." Damon replied.

"_Then you should try to find her. All I know is that she wants to travel to all of the places she's always wanted to go._" Tyler said and Damon nodded. He knew about many of them, he was sure.

"Thank you. Really. If you speak to her can you tell her I need to see her?" Damon asked.

"_I will. Good luck, man._" Tyler said.

"Thanks, Tyler. You too." Damon said sincerely then hung up.

* * *

><p>The flight couldn't have taken longer for Damon. He just wanted to find her already. He tried to sleep to make it go quicker but it just frustrated him so much to just sit still when he wanted to run and find her. When they finally landed into the airport in Paris, he compelled his way through security. He got to the rental car place and figured she probably got one. After some poking around, he figured out that the sales advisor had been compelled and he had to go through the same process again. He discovered that she'd compelled herself a blue mini then he ran all the way to the city centre. Unfortunately, the car had no tracking system in it, so he couldn't get it traced, but he did get the number plate.<p>

He'd spent the plane journey thinking over a plan to find her. She was Caroline – she'd want to shop. He found all the major designers and she'd been in all of them but none of them could give him any information – she'd been tight lipped. He checked all the hotels in the area and she wasn't there. He checked the Eiffel tower, the Moulin Rouge, the Louvre and the Seine. She had been in the Louvre, two hours earlier. He was like a madman running around the city, checking hotels, popular restaurants, bars, clubs, places she'd mentioned, places he thought she'd like – she wasn't there.

At nearly 4am, he'd been in Paris for sixteen hours and he felt like he was going to snap. He literally couldn't think of anywhere else to look. He'd left his number everywhere in case anyone saw her – they were to call him immediately. He was exhausted and starving so he compelled himself a quick bite and a hotel room and collapsed in the bed.

* * *

><p>He overslept the next morning and was annoyed with himself. He hurriedly got showered and ready – if he did find her, he didn't want to smell after all. He hurried down to the lobby and explained his situation to the girl at the front desk, in the hope she would have some suggestions as he was out of ideas. After gushing over how sweet she thought he was for a few minutes, she suggested putting up a notice in the central train station and bus station, in case she decided to travel around France and she also told him about a few more shopping areas and sites that he'd missed out on. The first thing on his list was the travel stations. He went to the central station and compelled all the ticket staff to call him if she turned up then went to the bus station and did the same. Paris wasn't that big – where the hell was she?<p>

* * *

><p>Caroline was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. It wasn't the same without Damon. She missed him terribly. More than once, she considered calling just to hear his voice. More than once, she considered it would be better to just be his friend than not have him at all. More than once, she wished she could go back in time and tell him the truth when he'd asked her in the woods. Maybe things would have been different. More than once, she realised how embarrassed she felt over the letter she left him. She knew he wasn't the Damon that she'd first met and that he wouldn't have made fun of her for it nor would he have ignored it – she knew he'd be hurt over her departure. She felt like she was being a drama queen when she just up and left like that. She thought about maybe going home. She thought about turning her emotions off. She thought about her mother and her friends – she'd become really good friends with Vin and Gianna and she knew she'd miss them. She thought about Damon the most though.<p>

She reached up and touched her cheek. He'd kissed her on the cheek just before he went home to the boarding house to have dinner with Elena. She wondered if he was now engaged. She felt like she had to know so she got her new phone out with her temporary French number that she would only have for a few days and dialled Vin's number. She knew it by heart now as she'd called him so many times over the past few months.

"_Damon, is that you?_" He answered worriedly.

"No, it's me, Vin." Caroline said he seemed to sigh in relief.

"_Caroline, where the hell are you? Nobody knows where you are! We've been worried sick!_" Vin exclaimed.

"I just had to get away, Vin." She said softly.

"_Have you heard from Damon?_" He asked her and she gulped.

"No." She replied. "Why?" She asked.

"_Two days ago he just up and left. He broke up with Elena then took his stuff and left._" Vin said and Caroline's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"He broke up with her?" Caroline asked in disbelief.

"_Apparently, he admitted that he loved her but wasn't in love with her and he left her. None of us have been able to get in touch with him._" Vin said.

"He ditched his phone?" Caroline asked.

"_No, it's just ringing out. He's not answering._" Vin replied. "_Can you try and call him? If he'll talk to anyone, he'll talk to you._" Vin said.

"I can't." Caroline shook his head.

"_Please, we don't even know if he's okay._" Vin replied knowing that would force her hand.

"Fine, I'll call and if he picks up, I'll call you back." She promised.

"_Can you please tell me where you are? I've been so worried. Your mother's been by here and everything._" He said.

"I can't have Damon following me, Vin, but I promise I'll call every once and a while and let you know I'm okay." She replied. "I'll call my mom too." She conceded.

"_Care, I thought we were friends._" Vin said softly.

"We are, but I need time to sort out my head." She admitted.

"_Caroline, I swear on my life I won't tell Damon where you are. Please, I just need to know that you're safe and that I can get to you if you need me for anything._" He said and she bit her lip.

"I'm in Paris but I'm leaving to drive around France this afternoon." She said.

"_Keep me posted. I can even secretly come visit you if you need to talk._" He said.

"Thanks, Vin. I'll call you back if I get him on the phone." She said then hung up. She really didn't want to call Damon, but she wasn't selfish enough to ignore it and not know that he was okay.

* * *

><p>Damon was sitting in a park completely frustrated. He was on a bench staring into space because he'd literally done everything and she was nowhere. How could he have lost her in Paris? It was supposed to be the romantic capital of the world. He was sure that epic love stories would dictate that he would run into her at the top of the Eiffel tower... he'd tell her he loved her, they'd kiss and they'd live happily ever after. So he sat on the bench, staring at the Eiffel tower, watching for a mop of blonde hair, feeling like the world's biggest idiot. Then his phone rang. It had been ringing periodically but it was always someone from home and he wasn't ready to talk to them – but this was a French number. Had she been spotted?<p>

"Hello?" He asked hesitantly.

"_Damon?_" He froze. It was her. It was Caroline.

"Oh thank God! I've been looking for you everywhere! I need to see you!" He rambled quickly down the phone.

"_Vin's worried about you, Damon. You should call him and tell him you're alright._" Caroline said.

"Screw Vin. Did you hear what I said? I'm in Paris! I've been looking for you everywhere!" He exclaimed.

"_What? Why the hell are you in Paris? You can't be in Paris! I'm not ready to see you yet!_" She exclaimed then hung up. Damon's eyes widened and he tried to call the number back but she didn't answer. No! Why did she hang up? Why didn't she want to see him? Where the hell was she? Damon had to fight not to break his phone in half. What the hell was he going to do now?

"Think, Dammit!" He muttered to himself.

Her number. He ran to the closest police station and compelled them to trace her number. She'd just broken the sim card obviously because the number was dead but they had the location of her last phone call and it turned out to be a tiny boutique hotel that he'd overlooked in the shopping district. He should have known that! He ran inside and he could smell her. He followed her scent up to a room and broke the door – she was gone. She couldn't have been gone for long, he just had to think like Caroline – where would she go?

He went back downstairs and left the hotel, only to see the blue mini parked down the street. When he got to it, he noticed that she'd left the keys in the ignition so she was clearly running wherever she was going. He slapped himself on the forehead. He should have kept her talking about stuff while he raced to the police station – he shouldn't have just told her he was in Paris. She probably thought he followed her because she was his best friend. He knew it was his own fault for making her self-conscious and now he'd have to pay for it. He'd have to start looking all over again.

* * *

><p>Damon remembered a conversation they had once about going to France and how she always wanted to drive around it, go to vineyards and visit the beaches in the south so he spent a week and a half driving around the country and there was no sign of her. He'd gone to the airport and obviously she'd bought a ticket with a different passport or something because there were no traces of compulsion. He was now officially stumped.<p>

He decided to do something he once swore he'd never do. This was too important. He hadn't seen her in nearly two weeks and he missed her like crazy. He called Bonnie.

"_What?_" She answered.

"I will literally do anything you want if you do a locator spell to find Caroline for me." Damon replied. "I have a lot of money if you want money. Or if you want me to never step foot in Mystic Falls again, I won't. If you just want a favour for the future... whatever. Anything you want. Please. Please, Bonnie. I need to find her. She could be hurt. She's out there somewhere alone and unprotected and I need to find her. Please." He begged her.

"_Fine._" She said and Damon grinned.

"What do you want in return?"

"_I want to speak to Klaus._" She replied and Damon's jaw dropped.

"Bonnie, I'm really not trying to sound like an ass but if I can't find Caroline, I'm never going to be able to find Klaus." Damon said.

"_I know where he is but he'll only speak to a vampire. Elena told me what he said in his note. He seems impressed with you. You might be my only chance to speak to him._" Bonnie said.

"Then I'll go speak to him." Damon agreed though if it went badly and Klaus killed him, he'd never get to tell Caroline how much he loved her.

"_Just like that?_" Bonnie asked surprised.

"Caroline is everything to me. I will do _anything_ to find her." Damon replied and he heard Bonnie gasp in shock. Clearly she hadn't gotten the memo on how much time they'd spent together.

"_Klaus is in Prague at the moment. I've been keeping track of him for a while._" She said surprising Damon.

"When will you tell me where she is?" Damon asked.

"_When I get a phone call from Klaus._" She replied and Damon sighed.

"What do you want me to tell him? I doubt he'll call out of the goodness of his heart." Damon replied wryly.

"_Tell him that I have an offer for him that I think he'll like._" She said.

"I'll make my way to Prague now. I'll call you when I get there and you can tell me where he is in Prague." Damon said.

"_Alright. Speak to you then._" She said then hung up. He didn't trust the witch one bit but he didn't know any witches in Europe anymore and he didn't have another choice. He'd tried tracing her credit cards but that hadn't worked as she was clearly compelling everything. He sometimes wished that she was as dumb as he'd originally thought she was but she was far more intelligent than him, clearly, since he had well over a century on her, yet she managed to shake him.

He got on the next flight to Prague.

* * *

><p>Caroline had been driving around Europe for a week and a half. The day she'd called, she ran out of the hotel and stole a car. She drove it for like four miles until she found a rental place and compelled herself one as a stolen car wouldn't go down so well, she thought. She couldn't decide what to do. She was lonely already. This travelling thing was a much better idea in her head than in practice. She saw things she wanted to see but she'd never gone this long without talking to someone. She had decided to travel for a few months before settling down but she lost interest in travelling alone. She really wished that Damon was with her. She'd been furious with herself that she just hung up on him when he flew all the way to Paris to find her. He said he'd looked everywhere for her.<p>

She wished that she hadn't freaked out like that. He'd probably not even want to speak to her now – so she didn't call. She was just so embarrassed. He was Damon Salvatore after all, he could have any girl in the world and she was sure she'd totally blown their friendship by hanging up on him. They'd gotten so close. He'd told her things that he'd never told anyone before. She'd told him things that she'd never told anyone before. And she'd blown it because she'd been too much of a coward to go see him.

She was majorly wallowing in self-pity. She hadn't even had the nerve to call Vin back yet. He was probably worried sick. She hadn't called in two weeks. Surely Damon would have called someone at home by now, if he wasn't back there yet. She hadn't even called her mother yet. She was too much of a coward to do that too.

So she gave up on travelling and went somewhere she knew Damon loved. She decided to live there for a while. She didn't know why she chose that place; she just needed to keep the idea of him close to her somehow. She wasn't ready to let go of him yet which was stupid, considering she left her home to get over him.

Stupid of course.

She already knew she'd never get over him.


	3. Prague

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

* * *

><p>Finding Caroline<p>

Chapter 3

* * *

><p>Damon was sitting in his hotel room waiting for a text from Bonnie with the exact address to find Klaus. He was surprised that he wasn't remotely nervous to die – which of course was a possibility. He wasn't sure that he wouldn't find it to be somewhat of a relief. He wasn't sure he could take too much more of the crap that was supposed to be life. The last two weeks had been a reminder to him what his life had been like before he returned to Mystic Falls and he hated it. His once carefree lifestyle had been something he enjoyed before, but now all he could think about was finding Caroline. At this point he just wanted to hear her voice again. He wanted to see her face. He wanted to hear her giggle like a kid the same way she always did when he said something stupid or sarcastic or the odd occasion he was funny. He wanted to touch her soft cheek. He wanted to just touch her and make sure she was okay. He knew there was a possibility that he would be killed by Klaus and he'd never get to see her again so he looked through all the photos he had on his phone. Most of them were of her or of the two of them. Sometimes they were drunk, sometimes they were doing stupid things, sometimes they were making stupid faces, sometimes they just smiled... He just missed her and the sight of her in the pictures was making him ache because those frozen moments – they were happy.<p>

If the possibility existed that he would die – and he knew it did – he would have to say something to his siblings. He figured Vin would try to talk him out of it so he called Gianna. He knew that Bonnie knew there was a good chance he could die and they were both willing to risk that. He was willing to risk it because he loved Caroline and wanted to find her more than anything. Bonnie was willing to risk it because she hated him and if he died, it would be of no consequence to her whatsoever and Damon believed she was up to something. She blamed him for everything and he figured it was possible that she didn't want to find Klaus – she just wanted Damon dead. It was worth the risk for Damon so he got out his phone and called his sister.

"_Damon! Oh my God! I'm going to kick your ass!_" She answered and he chuckled.

"I miss you too, Gianna." He smirked.

"_Where the hell are you? When are you coming home?_" She asked.

"I guess I better explain." Damon sighed.

"_You think?_" She asked him annoyed.

"Caroline left Mystic Falls because she's apparently in love with me and couldn't just be my friend anymore. She left me a letter and after I read it I followed her so I could tell her that I love her too." Damon said and Gianna gasped. "Let me finish. I tracked her down to Paris, spent sixteen hours straight looking for her everywhere, compelling practically every shop, restaurant, train station, attraction and bar that I could to find her. I found her but it was too late, she was gone. Then I spent a week and a half driving all around France trying to catch her trail but it didn't work. I've done everything possible to find her. I've had her credit cards run, her passport, phone numbers, everything. I can't find her. So, I called Bonnie and begged her to do a spell to find her but she won't do it without something in return and I'm just about to go do what she wants. It's really quite risky and I didn't think I should just go do it without explaining myself to someone. So, if you talk to Caroline in the future and I don't make it, please just tell her that I love her and I'm sorry." Damon said.

"_I promise, I'll tell her._" Gianna said shakily. "_What is this risky thing that Bonnie is making you do for a simple locator spell?_" Gianna asked.

"Well, I'm going to see Klaus for her." Damon replied.

"_ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!_" She yelled.

"I'm out of options, Gianna. If anyone knows where she is, they aren't telling me. I literally have no other options. I've tried finding other witches that would be fine with just money, but I don't have any other choice. I have to do as Bonnie asks. I'm not a complete fool though, I understand that there's a good chance she's sending me there to get killed on purpose but I guess that would be better than spending all of eternity alone looking for Caroline.

"_Please, Damon! I'll help you look for her! Please just don't go to Klaus!_" Gianna pleaded.

"Tell you what? If somehow I don't get killed and Bonnie gets what she wants but still refuses to find Caroline for me, then you can help me look." Damon replied.

"_She would still refuse?_" Gianna asked in disbelief.

"Honestly, I think she has no intention of looking for Caroline for me but I have no other avenues, Gio. Anyway, I have to go. I just wanted someone to know what I was doing. And just in case... I love you and Vin." Damon said then hung up and looked at Bonnie's text message, memorised the address then switched his phone off before Gianna could call back.

* * *

><p>Gianna stared at her phone in disbelief. She had no idea where he was and she felt so helpless. Her eyes welled up with tears. She wished she had told Damon of Caroline's feelings and she wished she'd told Caroline of Damon's feelings but she hadn't because she thought there was a reason they weren't telling each other. She thought that maybe despite their feelings, maybe they only wanted to be friends. She slapped her hand to her forehead just as Vin came in.<p>

"What's wrong?" Vin asked her concerned.

"Our stupid older brother made a deal with that stupid witch Bonnie to find Caroline for him and he's most likely going to get himself killed." Gianna said and Vin's jaw dropped.

"What's the deal with Bonnie?" Vin asked and she sighed.

"Apparently, in exchange for a easy locator spell, Damon has to go see Klaus for her." Gianna said and Vin gasped.

"How is that a fair trade?" Vin yelled.

"She's a stupid bitch, Vin. She hates Damon and he knows there's a possibility that she only sent him there to get him killed but he's going anyway because he loves Caroline so much he's willing to do anything to find her. He told me he spent a week and a half compelling half of France trying to find her and he almost did but then he lost her." She said miserably and Vin felt guilty beyond belief.

"Gianna? I kind of... sort of... know where she is." Vin said and before he could blink she had him slammed against the wall with her true vampire face inches from his.

"If Damon dies and you knew where she was, I'll kill you. Do you understand me?" She seethed and he nodded. "Can you get in touch with her?" She asked.

"I don't have a number for her. She called me earlier and told me she was settling down in Scandinavia. That's all I know. She couldn't deal with travelling alone so she's going to live there for a while and try to settle down." Vin explained. "She made me promise not to tell Damon."

"Why doesn't she want him finding her?" Gianna asked in disbelief.

"She thinks that he only cares about her as a friend and she's embarrassed beyond belief that she bared her soul to him in a letter." Vin said. "I had no idea that he felt the same way about her. It's not like he's open with his feelings, you know."

"How is that possible you dumbass?" She yelled at him. "It was so obvious!" She snapped.

"I'm not good at spotting stuff like that. You know that." Vin sighed and she let him go.

"I guarantee you, Vin. If that witch doesn't do the locator spell for him after what he's doing for her, I'll kill her." Gianna swore.

"I'll help." Vin agreed and Gianna looked surprised.

* * *

><p>Damon went to the old abandoned hotel where Klaus was meant to be. He had no weapons on him, he stayed calm and really, he wasn't a threat to Klaus, so he hoped they'd let him live. He pushed open the doors to the hotel and as soon as he'd closed it behind him he found himself pushed against a wall, face first. He didn't react as he'd been expecting it.<p>

"Who are you?" A rough voice barked from behind him.

"My name is Damon Salvatore." He replied calmly and was surprised when they let him go.

"What are you doing here?" A tall beefy vampire asked. Damon had a good look at him and figured that the vampire was much older than him so it was best to just cooperate.

"I'm here to speak to Klaus." Damon replied.

"Why?" He was asked.

"Well, he left me a note a few months ago saying that he wanted to meet me, so I thought now would be as good a time as any." Damon shrugged and the vampire cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Let him in." Damon heard an English accent call from a few rooms away.

"Try anything and you're dead." The vampire warned him.

"Dude, I'm not armed, I'm here alone. What the hell am I possibly going to try?" Damon asked him honestly and the vampire nodded. Damon was escorted up to the room he heard the voice from and he knew it was Klaus when he saw him. Damon was really surprised at just how normal Klaus looked. He expected some God-like creature but he just looked like a regular guy. "Nice to meet you, Klaus." Damon nodded his head.

"What brings you here, Damon?" Klaus asked him curiously.

"I'll be completely honest with you." Damon replied.

"Is this about Elena?" Klaus asked curiously and Damon chuckled.

"No, I respect what you did. It would have been irresponsible to keep her human." Damon replied and Klaus looked pleasantly surprised.

"Then what do you wish to speak to me about?" Klaus asked curiously.

"There is a witch I am acquainted with who wants to speak to you. She said that you would only speak to a vampire, so here I am. She asked me to tell you that she has an offer for you that she thinks you would like." Damon explained.

"And why would you do this for a witch?" Klaus asked.

"Honestly? Because I need her to do a locator spell for me." Damon replied and Klaus gaped at him.

"You came to see me for her for a simple locator spell?" Klaus asked in disbelief.

"I really need the locator spell." Damon shrugged. "Though, there's a good chance she still won't give me it but that's beside the point, really." Damon muttered.

"Are you serious?" Klaus asked and Damon smirked.

"Elena told me that you can compel vampires regardless of vervain. Go ahead. I have nothing to hide. I really just need the locator spell and stupidly told the blasted witch that I'd do anything for it." Damon replied. Klaus looked at him curiously.

"Who are you looking to find?" Klaus asked.

"The girl I'm in love with." Damon replied.

"And why would I want anything from this witch?" Klaus asked.

"You want me to be completely honest?" Damon asked and Klaus nodded. He was pretty fascinated by Damon as Damon had absolutely no fear of him and had no problem being blunt. "In my opinion, she's a judgemental little witch who I wouldn't trust as far as a toddler could throw her but she's the only option I have left. I doubt very much that even if you called her she would do it for me but I had to try." Damon replied.

"You're not selling this very well." Klaus smirked and Damon chuckled.

"I'm not trying to sell it. I genuinely don't know what she wants from you but if I could take a guess, it probably isn't something that would actually benefit you." Damon replied and Klaus laughed.

"Then why would I call her?" Klaus asked.

"I didn't think you would." Damon replied and Klaus felt a little confused.

"I seem to be missing something." Klaus replied.

"Well, I'm a selfish creature at heart and the witch wants me dead so there's no reason for her to help me at all. I don't expect her to do the locator spell. She despises all vampires and I suspect this might be some kind of trap that she has planned." Damon said.

"You think she might want to kill me?" Klaus asked curiously.

"It's a possibility." Damon nodded. "If I were to take a guess, I think she will probably ask you for immortality so she doesn't have to be tired out when she does spells. I think she will then try and get in your good graces under the pretence of wishing to work with you. But that's just a guess. I figured since you didn't kill Elena when you could have, I at least owed you a heads up that she can find you." Damon said.

"So, you came here to tell me that this witch wants something from me and she can find me but that I shouldn't trust her?" Klaus asked in disbelief.

"I asked her for the locator spell then when she told me what she wanted in return for it, I knew that I wouldn't be getting the locator spell because she's up to something. So yes, I came here to tell you to be careful because she's a crafty little witch who obviously has something up her sleeve or she wouldn't be asking to speak to you." Damon said.

"What is this witch's name?" Klaus asked as he mulled everything Damon had said over.

"Bonnie Bennett. This is her telephone number and address in case you want to find out what she's up to or take her out." Damon said then handed over a piece of paper to Klaus.

"What's in it for you?" Klaus asked curiously as Damon had asked him for nothing.

"Well, I did as she asked. I passed along the message that she wants to speak to you about an offer. She didn't tell me to sell it so it's not like I broke the deal. So I did my part and I should get my locator spell." Damon said.

"But you said she wouldn't do it." Klaus said curiously.

"I guarantee you if she doesn't do it, I'll enjoy breaking her neck." Damon replied and Klaus looked a little surprised.

"You would kill her?" Klaus asked.

"I don't break deals. If she breaks this one it'll be the last straw. I've already had it with her so if she breaks this deal, she'll die." Damon shrugged. "Not like she wouldn't have it coming."

"I have to say, you're baffling me a little." Klaus said.

"Look, I will never trust Bonnie Bennett. I wouldn't have asked for the spell if it wasn't a last resort. When she brought you into it, I knew there was more to it and I knew that I would come tell you anyway because you turned Elena instead of killing her. I owed you that much at least. I know you don't know me and you have no reason to trust me but she's actually quite powerful. She could possibly be a problem for you and if she wants direct contact with you, there is clearly some kind of plan in place. There's a reason she specifically wants to talk to you. If she just wanted to be a vampire, she has plenty of options. There's something fishy about it and I figured you'd want to know since she can find you. So, I covered my part of the deal while also warning you about her because if I had to pick you or her it would be you since so far you've been honourable and she's been anything but." Damon said.

"So you're not asking for anything from me?" Klaus asked curiously and Damon looked confused.

"Why would I ask you for anything? You don't owe me anything." Damon said.

"What will you do then if this witch does not do the locator spell?" Klaus asked curiously.

"Well, after I kill the bitch, my sister offered to help me look for my girl." Damon said. "So, I guess I'll do that." He shrugged.

"So, that's all you want? To find this girl?" Klaus asked and Damon nodded.

"That's all I want." He agreed. "Anyway, it was nice to meet you. I won't take up anymore of your time." Damon nodded to him.

"Damon?" Klaus asked and Damon looked at him intently. "Can you call the witch and find out what she wants from me?" Klaus asked.

"I can try but she probably won't tell me." Damon said as he got his phone out. He switched it on then dialled the number.

"_Yes?_" She answered.

"What do you want from Klaus?" Damon asked her.

"_That's for him and I to discuss. I'm not telling you._" She replied.

"Fine, I guess you don't want to talk to him then." Damon said casually.

"_He's there with you?_" She asked in disbelief.

"We have a deal, witch." Damon replied. "I told you I would go speak to Klaus and give him your message. He wants to know what the hell you want." Damon snapped at her as just the sound of her voice grated his ears.

"_Yeah, well, I don't want you to know._" She said and Damon gave Klaus a look that said 'I told you so'.

"Fine, whatever. My side of the deal is done. You have an hour to send me a text message with her location." He said.

"_I'm not doing it until he speaks to me._" She said.

"You have an hour." Damon repeated.

"_Or what?_" She asked defiantly.

"Or I'll kill you." Damon said and she gasped in shock.

"_You couldn't get near enough to kill me._" She said and he laughed loudly.

"You think sinking my fangs in your neck is the only way?" Damon asked amused. "I'll just get a rifle and shoot you. Let's see you react faster than a bullet to your brain. Or perhaps something more creative..." Damon said then hung up with a smirk on his face.

"Damon, if you thought she was a threat to me that would make her a greater threat to you. Was that wise?" Klaus asked him surprised and Damon chuckled.

"She tries not to act like it but she's terrified of me because I drained her once." Damon smirked. "She'll be sitting there weighing out her options and I guarantee she will call back." Damon said amused. "This is the only way to deal with her. She doesn't do anything if you just ask her to."

"You really think she'll call you back after you threatened to shoot her in the head?" Klaus asked curiously and Damon chuckled.

"She wouldn't be able to handle the stress of not knowing when she was going to die. She knows I'm not kidding." Damon said.

"Witches can be so inconvenient." Klaus said and Damon chuckled.

"Especially this one. I've never met anyone so judgemental and on their high horse." Damon said then his phone rang. "What?" Damon asked as he answered. Klaus was shocked that she called back.

"_Fine, I'll tell you what I want to talk to Klaus about as long as you don't repeat it._" She said and Damon winked at Klaus who was looking highly amused.

"I couldn't care less what you want to talk to him about so just hurry up and let's get this over with." Damon smirked.

"_I was going to offer my services as a witch in exchange for some of his blood._" She said and Klaus cocked an eyebrow.

"What do you want his blood for?" Damon asked.

"_I want his blood so I can do a spell on myself to become immortal without having to be a vampire._" She said and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Klaus could have any witch in the world, what would he want with you?" Damon asked annoyed.

"_I have access to my ancestor's powers._" She replied and Klaus' eyes widened as did Damon's.

"And?" Damon asked.

"_And, there would be things I could do that nobody else could do for him._" She replied.

"Why do you need his blood in particular?" Damon asked.

"_He's the most feared vampire in the world, not a bad guy to have as an ally._" She said and Damon shook his head.

"I'll call you back." He said then hung up. "And there it is." Damon said.

"There what is?" Klaus asked him.

"She knows you're listening. She's trying to give you a compliment to stroke your ego. She's so obvious." Damon muttered and rolled his eyes.

"She needs to be taken out. If she has access to her ancestral powers, she could very well possibly have the strength to kill me." Klaus replied and Damon nodded.

"Cool, I'll take her out when I get there." Damon shrugged.

"Why would you do this for me?" Klaus asked.

"Don't delude yourself into thinking it's for you." Damon smirked and Klaus was surprised he would say that. "I've wanted to kill this witch for over a year." Damon said.

"I think I'll accompany you." Klaus said and Damon looked surprised.

"Alright. We'll I'm going to be leaving either tonight or tomorrow morning, depending on flights." Damon nodded.

"I have a jet on standby, we can take that." Klaus said and Damon smirked.

"Guess I should have expected nothing less." Damon said and Klaus laughed.

"Do you have things to pick up?" Klaus asked.

"I have a bag in a nearby hotel." Damon replied.

"Can you get it and be back here in say fifteen minutes?" Klaus asked.

"Sure." Damon agreed.

"Excellent. I will call the pilot while you get your bag." Klaus said.

"Alright. I'll see you in fifteen minutes outside." Damon said then he left. He ran back to his hotel, grabbed his bag then ran back to where Klaus was. He was five minutes early so he decided to call Gianna.

"_Damon, thank God!_" She said and he chuckled.

"Were you worried about little old me?" Damon asked her amused.

"_Yes! What happened?_" She asked.

"Nothing much. Bonnie revealed that she clearly has a plan to take out Klaus so he's obviously not going to take it which I agree with." Damon shrugged.

"_But you're alright?_" She asked.

"Of course." Damon replied.

"_Vin found out that Care is in Scandinavia. That's all he knows._" Gianna said.

"Well, that narrows it down." Damon said thoughtfully.

"_Want me to come help you look?_" She asked.

"No, that's okay. I'll head right there. I'll call you when I find her." Damon said.

"_What about Bonnie?_" She asked Damon.

"Just ignore Bonnie. She's clearly just a waste of space." Damon replied. "I'm off to find my girl so you hold down the fort in Mystic Falls, okay?" Damon asked.

"_Call me when you find her._" Gianna said.

"I will." Damon smiled then hung up.

"You are going to Scandinavia?" Klaus asked as he came out.

"After I've been to Mystic Falls." Damon nodded.

"You did not say that on the phone." Klaus replied.

"If I go back to Mystic Falls to live at some point, I can't be implicated in Bonnie's death. It's better if nobody knows I was there." He replied and Klaus grinned at him.

"You think quickly." Klaus pointed out.

"I have to." Damon shrugged. "Not all of us are Originals." Damon smirked and Klaus laughed.

* * *

><p>Damon and Klaus were on the jet and had been for a while. Damon was sitting thinking over any places in Scandinavia that he and Caroline had talked about. They'd talked about the capitals and Damon had told her how much he liked Gothenburg. He figured he would start there.<p>

"So are you just coming to watch me kill her? Or do you have questions for her?" Damon asked Klaus out of the blue.

"Both." Klaus replied and Damon nodded. He gathered that Klaus was maybe sceptical that he'd do it. "How will you do it?" Klaus asked and Damon shrugged.

"It depends. If I can get close enough to her, I'll snap her neck. If not, the rifle idea works for me." Damon said. "I don't really care how she dies as long as she's dead." Damon said.

"Agreed." Klaus nodded. He was really interested in Damon as he wasn't like any other vampires he'd ever met. He didn't care about power or status or the fact that he was sitting talking to the most feared and famous vampire in history – he just wanted to find his girl and kill the witch who had deceived him.


	4. Mystic Falls

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

* * *

><p>Finding Caroline<p>

Chapter 4

* * *

><p>Damon and Klaus briefly talked over a plan on the flight. Klaus had taken the opportunity to ask Damon some questions about himself. Damon was too anxious to get to Scandinavia to really care that he was telling Klaus things about himself, though in all honesty he wasn't too worried. He figured that as long as he didn't piss Klaus off, he didn't think Klaus would do anything to him. So far, he seemed reasonable enough though Klaus was very different than he'd imagined. He'd imagined some crazy power hungry vampire that just ran around killing everyone all the time, whereas he turned out to be calm and somewhat quiet and after they'd gotten into several conversations Damon could tell that he was well read and interesting and he found himself to be quite intrigued by the older vampire. Klaus had found it to be very amusing that Damon couldn't stand Elijah as he didn't like him either. Klaus was constantly surprised at just how blunt Damon was. Damon didn't try and sugar coat his words or dance around a subject, he just said what he was thinking about whatever the subject regardless of whom he was speaking to. Nobody spoke to Klaus the way Damon did and he found it to be so refreshing.<p>

"Are you affected by her magic?" Klaus asked Damon when they were landing.

"You mean like the aneurisms and fire and whatnot?" Damon asked and Klaus nodded. "Yes, I am. She enjoys doing it as often as possible." Damon smirked. "I take it you're not affected by the simpler stuff like that?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes, if they are powerful enough." Klaus nodded. "However, I have this." Klaus pulled out a leather cord necklace from under his shirt with a red stone hanging from it.

"Is that an amulet that protects against stuff like that?" Damon asked curiously.

"Yes." Klaus answered. Damon was surprised that Klaus would tell him something like that.

"That's cool." Damon smiled at him. "I'll have to find a witch someday and butter her up and get one of those." He smirked. Klaus was surprised yet again. Damon didn't ask him for one. Damon didn't ask him for anything. Klaus had taken one with him and was planning to give it to Damon if he deemed him worthy of one and he had surpassed Klaus' expectations. He reached into his pocket and took it out.

"I have one for you." Klaus said then tossed it over to him. Damon looked stunned as he stared at the amulet.

"Why would you do that?" Damon asked him curiously.

"You knew the witch wouldn't help you yet you came to warn me anyway. Consider it a thank you." Klaus replied with a nod.

"I didn't do it for anything in return." Damon replied and Klaus nodded.

"I am aware of that." Klaus replied.

"Thank you for this. I really appreciate it." Damon said sincerely then put the amulet around his neck.

"You will not need a rifle now." Klaus smirked and Damon grinned at him.

"Exactly." Damon said excitedly and Klaus laughed.

* * *

><p>Damon hadn't called her back and she was freaking out a little. She'd spent the day at the Grill with Elena since she'd finally accepted that Elena was a vampire and made her a sun ring. She felt stupid for declining Elena's offer to walk her home as it was dark and she was jumpy. Every noise she heard had her jumping out of her skin. She'd tried calling Damon several times and his phone was always off. That had her worried. She hadn't told Elena about her deal with Damon – not that she was actually going to find Caroline for him. If Caroline had run away from him, why the hell would she help Damon find her? If she could get Klaus' blood, she could make herself the strongest witch in the history of time and she could eradicate the vampires. She hated all of them. Well, except Elena. She'd let Elena live. Maybe Caroline – she wasn't sure. Probably not. No, she probably would get rid of Caroline too. That would hurt.<p>

She could access her ancestor's powers, but not as the witch she was. She would need Klaus' blood. Klaus' blood would make her physically as strong and fast as him. She would basically be a vampire without the fangs or need for blood. She wouldn't be able to be killed like a vampire either and she'd live forever until the day she decided it was enough. She looked forward to killing Damon Salvatore the most. She would relish that. Bonnie wanted him dead more than she wanted anything else in the world. She'd never felt hatred like she had for him. It had sickened her when Elena told her that they were together. It had sickened her to see Caroline so obviously in love with him – again. It had sickened her that he had two more vampire siblings who had taken up residence in Mystic Falls and everyone just _loved_ them. It had sickened her to see Alaric, Jeremy and Tyler smile at Damon like they were friends. It had sickened her that the Sheriff knew what he was but trusted him unconditionally anyway. She wanted to slap them all and ask them what the hell was wrong with them. She didn't care that they all thought she was wrong – she knew that Damon Salvatore could never be trusted. She knew that he was evil to the very core. She knew that he wasn't capable of loving any of them in return the way they all seemed to love him. She hated him and thought that the day she killed him would possibly be the happiest day of her life.

She walked down to her Grams' house. She needed some time alone. She had no interest in having to sit and make casual conversation with her father about things that were completely irrelevant. She walked down the street and noticed that the street lights were out. It was eerily silent and she was freaked out already. She didn't doubt for a second that Damon would kill her if he could. She figured that he wouldn't though, because of her ties to Caroline and Elena. As she approached the house she felt a presence and her heart pounded in her chest.

"Hello Bonnie." Came his voice and if her heart could have stopped by itself she was sure it had. She turned around slowly and there he stood with a devious smirk in place. The man of her nightmares. The man that terrified her more than anything. The man that was the biggest monster that she could ever imagine.

"Damon." She replied as evenly as she could muster. She tried to stay calm she didn't want him to hear her pounding heart. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of her fear. He cocked his head to the side slowly and studied her and she'd never felt so much like prey.

"I brought someone with me to meet you." He said to her and she felt confused. She'd been so wrapped up in her fear that she couldn't think straight. "Oh, Klaus?" He called and her eyes widened. The next thing she knew he'd sped her to the side of the house, away from the street, away from anyone who could see her. She'd never been so afraid. She leaned against the house and stared at Damon who was no more than two feet in front of her smirking like the evil devil he was.

"So you are Bonnie Bennett?" Klaus asked as he came out of the tree line and made himself known. Bonnie understood that she was in a pretty terrible position. She was alone with Damon and Klaus in the dark with only the moon as a light source. She studied the little she could see of Klaus and he looked very different than she had imagined.

"I am." She replied as stoically as she could manage.

"You wished to speak to me, here's your chance." Klaus replied.

"I wanted a phone call." She replied glaring at Damon who chuckled.

"Well, you never sent me Caroline's location so I told Klaus that I was coming to kill you and he decided to come along." Damon said casually as if he were talking about going to the store for milk. Bonnie was unsure what to think of that. Why would Klaus come just to watch her die? That seemed like an awful long way to go.

"You had no intention of doing the spell for him, did you?" Klaus asked her curiously. "You sent him to me in the hopes I would kill him." Klaus said.

"Pity it didn't work. I was sure his lack of personality would piss you off." Bonnie replied and Damon chuckled.

"Oh, how you hurt me, Bonnie." Damon said amused. He couldn't care less what the witch thought of him.

"And instead I seem to have found a trustworthy ally. I thank you for that little witch." Klaus smiled at her deviously and her eyes widened.

"You can't trust him. He'll only betray you." She said.

"You say that, yet you are the one who betrayed your deal and he did not." Klaus said.

"You know what he wanted from me?" Bonnie asked surprised.

"He wishes to find the girl he loves." Klaus nodded. "You haven't looked, have you?" He asked.

"No." She replied.

"Then why would I make a deal with you?" Klaus asked her and she was stumped.

"I'll look for her now then." Bonnie said.

"No need. My witch will do the locator spell for him." Klaus said and Damon looked at Klaus in surprise.

"What?" Damon asked.

"He's here now, I might as well." Bonnie rushed out.

"No, thanks. You'd no doubt send me in the wrong direction." Damon smirked at her. Before she could reply Damon had her pinned against the wall with his vampire face inches from hers. She concentrated all her power and gave him multiple aneurisms of a life time. He grabbed his head and she smirked in satisfaction. "Ow... the pain." He said then lifted his head to smile at her evilly and her smirk fell when she realised she'd done nothing to him. "Kidding." He smirked and her eyes widened. How was he unaffected? He grabbed her throat and spun her around so her back was against his chest and he held around her waist with his right arm and tilted her head with his left hand then smelled her throat. "Witch blood. It's been a while." He whispered into her ear and she whimpered. Klaus stepped forward and looked into her eyes.

"Tell me your full plan. Why did you want me involved?" Klaus compelled her as Damon held her still.

"I was going to use your blood to make myself the strongest witch the world has ever known then I was going to eradicate all the vampires in the world except Elena... starting with Damon Salvatore." She said back in a blank tone with a blank expression. "Your blood would have made me as strong as you without the weaknesses of a vampire." Klaus looked up and smirked at Damon.

"Carry on." Klaus said and Bonnie came back to herself.

"Starting with me?" Damon whispered to her amused. "Your thoughts are consumed with me, aren't they little witch? You're obsessed with me." Damon said against her neck. "It'll be an honour to be the one to kill you." He said and her breath hitched. She was going to die.

"Please don't." She begged and tried to scramble away but he held her too tightly. He pierced her neck with one fang then tasted her blood with his tongue.

"No vervain?" Damon asked surprised and delighted. "You're too cocky for your own good, Bonnie." Damon purred against her neck. "I'll enjoy this." He said to her and her heart rate spiked even more.

"I'll do anything, please don't kill me." She said as tears broke free on her face.

"I was never one to share, but I'll be happy to make an exception if you want to join me for a drink." Damon smirked at Klaus who laughed.

"Certainly." The Original replied then moved forward and bit into the left side of her neck.

"You can rest now, Bonnie." Damon whispered in her ear and she sobbed as he bit into the right side of her neck from behind her then he and Klaus drank until her heart stopped. Klaus pulled away first then Damon did and he let her body slump on the ground. Damon didn't kill her because she was going to kill him. Damon didn't kill her because she was going to eradicate all the vampires. Damon killed her because she didn't say 'except Caroline'.

* * *

><p>Damon and Klaus went straight back to the airport and boarded the jet. They'd buried her body in the woods as he didn't want his siblings implicated in her death if he just left her body beside the house. They boarded the plane and Damon sat across from Klaus with a drink in his hand as he mulled over the evening. She'd admitted what he knew all along. She'd sent him to Klaus to be killed.<p>

"I saw a flash of anger in your face when she answered my compulsion." Klaus said breaking their silence.

"My Caroline was her best friend all of her life and she included her in the vampires she wanted to eradicate." Damon replied with a shrug and Klaus nodded.

"Did you have doubts about killing her on the way there?" Klaus asked curiously.

"No. I was going to kill her no matter what, though I was sure I would feel a sliver of remorse. After you compelled her, I feel none." Damon said honestly.

"Why is Caroline lost to you?" Klaus asked curiously.

"We were the best of friends, though I was in love with her, I thought she felt nothing for me other than friendship. Apparently, she felt the same way and was sure I felt nothing more for her and she overheard a conversation I had with Elena, where Elena forced me to confess my feelings for Caroline but she overheard the wrong part and took off. She said she couldn't be just friends with me anymore." Damon said as he relived that awful day that was two and a half weeks ago. "It's all very dramatic." Damon smirked and Klaus chuckled.

"I would love to meet this girl that has captivated you so." Klaus replied and Damon nodded.

"Once I've found her you can meet her." Damon replied. He got out his walled at pulled out a picture he kept of her there. It was taken the day of the classic car convention and he had his arm around her shoulders and she hugged into his side and they were both smiling. He handed it over to Klaus after looking at it for a moment.

"She is stunning." Klaus nodded with a smile then handed it back. "You look very happy in that photograph."

"I've always liked classic cars and she surprised me that day by taking me to a classic car convention." Damon smiled as he looked at the picture then laughed. "She can't tell the difference between the bonnet and the exhaust pipe but she still managed to have fun." He said fondly. Caroline definitely had no interest or knowledge about cars, yet she'd gone for him.

"It has been a very long time since I had the look that you have." Klaus smiled.

"It's driving me crazy." Damon muttered. "I don't like being this consumed by someone."

"Do you think she is the one for you?" Klaus asked curiously and Damon chuckled.

"Without a doubt." Damon nodded. "I just hope I'm not too late to fix this." He said.

* * *

><p>Damon arrived in Prague and just as Klaus said, his witch found her for him. Just as he'd suspected, she was in Gothenburg. Klaus gave him his telephone number and Damon gave Klaus his. Damon promised to call Klaus when he found her and promised to visit so Klaus could meet her. Damon asked Klaus what he wanted in return for the locator spell but Klaus wanted nothing as he thought Bonnie really could have been a major threat to him and he wouldn't have known about it had it not been for Damon. Damon got the impression that Klaus just enjoyed his company and the feeling was mutual. Klaus knew that Damon couldn't care less that he was 'Klaus' and that he just genuinely liked him. Klaus thought that perhaps they could be friends. Damon had agreed. They'd parted well.<p>

Damon hurried to the airport and took the first flight he could get that would take him to Gothenburg. He was given the address where she was at the time of the spell and he hurried there when he got off the plane. It was a relatively short flight but Damon felt like he'd been on the plane forever when it landed. It was Saturday evening and he remembered telling her that the place to go in Gothenburg on a Saturday night was a club called Sticky Fingers. It wasn't really her scene as it was a heavy rock club but he wondered if she would go. He didn't know what he was going to say. He couldn't just turn up and say 'Hey, how are you?' and he wanted it to be special. He thought about taking her flowers or a gift but that was too cheesy. He thought seriously about going and getting her an engagement ring but he wasn't in a romance film and thought that would be tacky. He got to the address to find that it was an apartment building. He crossed the street and compelled his way into the apartment across the street from hers and he looked out the window.

He was sure that his heart started to beat again when he saw that blonde mop of hair. She was curled up on a couch with her hair in a ponytail and she had a towel wrapped around her. She looked like she was watching TV. He was sure he melted at the sight of her. He just wanted to watch her for a minute. He felt like he'd waited years to see her again and he just wanted to watch and make sure she was real. That it really was her that he could see.

He stared at her through the window for what felt like hours and minutes all at once. He watched her go into a room in her towel and come back out wearing black skinny jeans and a red halter top – she looked divine. He watched her do her hair and put on her makeup. She straightened her hair and he noticed that it looked longer like that then when she curled it. She'd done dark smoky eyes and had a little red lip gloss on. She looked like a vampire and he thought she was beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, hot, sexy, and any other word that summed up the allure she had. He watched her put on knee length high heeled leather boots then laced them up the front. He watched her throw on a short leather jacket and pick up a red handbag. He could only imagine given her clothing that she was going to Sticky Fingers and he smiled. His stomach flipped when he saw her pick up a framed picture of the two of them and she touched the picture. He had the same picture in his wallet and knew that she was touching the part where he was. He saw a sad smile grace her beautiful face then she put down the picture blinked her eyes to stop tears then she left the apartment. He raced down the stairs of the apartment building and saw her across the street. He wasn't ready to let go of the perfection that he had in that moment so he let her walk down the street and he followed in the shadows, keeping a distance so she wouldn't hear him.

The sad smile on her face when she looked at the picture had him a little worried. He was worried that he would tell her how much he loved her and she would tell him it was too late. He was worried that she would reject him – so he followed in silence and watched. She did go to Sticky Fingers and he followed her inside. Thankfully it was late enough that there was quite a crowd already. He watched her from a distance as she went to the bar and compelled herself a drink. He smirked at that, considering everyone always got on his case for compelling stuff all the time. He liked that she wasn't perfect. He saw several men trying to talk to her and she was polite when she declined their offers of drinks or dancing. One time, he saw her lose her temper with a guy who grabbed her ass and he laughed. She'd spun around then and he'd had to duck out of sight as she'd heard him. He moved so he could see her, but she couldn't see him and she still searched the room with her eyes and a look of disappointment washed over her face then she compelled another drink. This time she ordered whiskey. He'd gotten her used to the stuff and he smiled. At first, she hadn't been a fan but over the months of their friendship, she slowly started to like it. He hoped that she was thinking of him.

She stayed at the bar for a couple of hours, having drink after drink and she made light conversation with a few people after she was a little tipsy. She was by far the most beautiful girl in the club so she garnered a lot of attention, but Damon stayed back. He had missed her so much and she was right there. Why wasn't he running to her? What was he so afraid of? He had just made his mind to go to her when she got up and left. He followed her out of the club and she went down an alley. He figured maybe she wanted to feed, but he couldn't take it anymore. He had to speak to her. He didn't care if she rejected him – he just wanted to hear her voice. The alley was deserted, they were alone, but she'd yet to register his presence. He would have to speak to her about allowing herself to be followed like this but that could wait. He sped forward a little until she was only about ten feet in front of him.

"Found you." He said and she froze mid step.


	5. Gothenburg

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

* * *

><p>Finding Caroline<p>

Chapter 5

* * *

><p>"Found you." Caroline froze mid step. That was his voice. She had been so sure she'd heard his laugh earlier that she had been certain that she was going insane. She couldn't make up her mind. Half of her wanted to turn around and practically squash him with the biggest hug anyone had ever been given. The other half wanted to run. She couldn't decide so she just stayed frozen with her back to him. She couldn't think of anything to say and she had missed him desperately. She had no idea how he'd found her but supposed if he really thought about it, it was possible. They were best friends after all and he knew how she thought, just as she knew him.<p>

"Damon." She whispered. Damon felt butterflies at hearing her voice.

"I have to tell you a little story, since you're my best friend." Damon said and her heart broke a little at him calling them friends. "You see, there's this girl... and she left me. She left me a letter telling me that she was leaving so of course, I went after her. I had her car traced as well as her number, I called her mother – nobody knew anything. So I went to the airport. After a lot of compulsion, I figured out that she went to Paris. I got on the next flight to Paris, found out that she'd compelled herself a blue Mini then spent sixteen hours straight searching every store, restaurant, bar, famous site and hotel that I could think of. I left my number everywhere in case anyone saw her. I had no luck so I ended up passing out for the night. The next day I kept searching but soon I'd searched everywhere and no luck so I found a bench and sat in front of the Eiffel tower. As sappy as it sounds, I figured if it was like a romance film, I would bump into her at the top of the tower, I'd tell her how much I love her, we'd kiss then live happily ever after. So I waited and waited. Then she called me. She didn't want to speak to me and she was just calling because my brother was worried. I got her number traced and found her hotel but she was gone when I got there. I remembered a conversation I had with her once about driving around France and I spent a week and a half compelling almost everyone in France trying to find her. I had no luck." He said and Caroline was shell shocked. She was so shocked she still couldn't move. He did all that for her? Damon loved her? What?

"I was out of options so I did something I swore I would never do. I called Bonnie and begged her to help me by doing a locator spell. She agreed to help me on the condition I do something for her first and I agreed. She sent me to Prague and I went because she wanted to speak to Klaus." Damon said and Caroline's eyes widened. Damon would go to Klaus just to find her? She felt like she was going to faint.

"So, I went to Klaus. I did what she asked and she still refused to find her for me." Caroline was furious with Bonnie for that but she still couldn't seem to turn around.

"It turned out that she sent me to Klaus thinking Klaus would kill me." Damon said and Caroline's jaw dropped. She would kill Bonnie for that.

"But her plan backfired because Klaus and I got along like a house on fire." Caroline wasn't surprised by that. It was hard not to love Damon.

"She still refused to help me so I decided to go to Mystic Falls and kill her." Damon admitted. He wouldn't ever lie to her. Caroline wasn't surprised by that either.

"Klaus went with me and when we confronted Bonnie it turned out that she also wanted to speak to Klaus because she planned to make herself an immortal witch and eradicate all the vampires in the world except Elena." He said and Caroline felt a sting in her heart for that one.

"So I killed her." Damon said and Caroline thought about that.

"I didn't kill her because she tried to kill me. I didn't kill her because she planned to take out all vampires. I killed her because she included the girl I love in those vampires." Damon said and Caroline could understand because she wanted to kill Bonnie for trying to kill Damon.

"After I killed her, I flew back to Prague with Klaus and as a thank you for protecting him, his witch did the locator spell for me. I flew straight to Gothenburg and I found her. I watched her get ready from the apartment across the street then I followed her to Sticky Fingers. I saw some jerk grab her ass and laughed when she lost her temper with him but I'm sure she heard me." Damon said and she couldn't understand why it had taken him so long to talk to her.

"I watched because I was worried she would tell me I took too long. I was worried she would tell me I was too late. I finally got the guts up to go talk to her when she left the club so I followed. I had to tell you all of this because you're my best friend." He said and she finally got the nerve to turn around and look at him. She couldn't believe he had done all of that for her. He looked the same as always in his black jeans, black t-shirt, leather jacket and boots, but she was still hit with the onslaught of butterflies as always. He walked up to her and stopped right in front of her and she stared into his eyes and he grazed her cheek with his hand.

"I love you, Caroline." He said softly and her heart melted even more than it already had.

"I love you too." She whispered and he crashed his lips to hers. She threw her arms around his neck and he pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her back so she was flush against him. He kissed her like the world was going to end and she kissed him back like she hadn't seen him in centuries. He pulled away and leaned his forehead against hers but didn't move his arms, so she was still flush against him.

"So, I'm not too late?" He asked her softly and she laughed.

"You could never be too late." She replied and he grinned at her. "I can't believe you did all that just to find me." She said softly as tears welled in her eyes.

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you." He replied honestly brushing away her tears.

"I'm sorry for hanging up on you in Paris." She said embarrassed.

"Why did you?" He asked still using the soft tone.

"I thought you followed me because I'm your best friend." She replied.

"Well, do you believe me now? Do you believe that I'm completely in love with you now?" Damon asked her and she giggled.

"Yes." She smiled.

"I've missed your laugh." He smiled.

"I've missed you." She said.

"You're never leaving me again." He said to her seriously.

"I won't." She promised.

"You know I'll just follow you if you do." He smirked at her and she hugged him. He held her just as tightly.

"I only left because I thought you'd never love me like I love you." She admitted.

"I'm sorry for being such a coward." He said.

"So am I." She said. "So where do we go from here?" She asked as she let go.

"Well, I was hoping you would take me home with you and let me have my way with you since I haven't had sex since Stefan died." Damon said with a smirk and her jaw dropped.

"I was the last person you slept with?" She asked in disbelief and he nodded. "You didn't with Elena?" She asked.

"No." He shook his head.

"I didn't with Tyler either." She said and he grinned.

"Shall we then?" He smirked and she giggled.

"Oh, absolutely." She replied and he laughed then kissed her. They then walked back to her apartment hand in hand. They were kissing again before the door was even closed and Damon got her jacket off and threw it across the room then kept kissing her. She walked backwards as she got his jacket off and moments later he was pulling her top over her head then his own and they landed on the bed. Damon got her boots and jeans off then got rid of his own and they were wrapped up in each other in just their underwear. "Can you say it again?" She asked with a smile as he unclipped her bra.

"Say what?" He asked confused and she shot him a look and he laughed then kissed her softly. "I love you, Barbie." He said with a smile and she giggled then kissed him. He pulled her underwear off then his boxers and pinned her to the bed.

"Your turn." He smirked and she smiled.

"I love you, Damon Salvatore." She said and he grinned at her.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that." He admitted.

"Then I won't stop saying it." She said then his lips found hers again.

* * *

><p>Damon woke up the next morning with a smile on his face and rolled over to find a note on her pillow. His heart sank and his smile faded and he really didn't want to read it. They'd had the perfect night together and he really didn't want to read it and ended up staring at it for a few minutes. He took a deep breath then picked up the note and read it.<p>

_To Flower,_

_Just in case you wake up before I get back, I just went to the store to get breakfast and coffee. I'll be back soon._

_I love you,_

_Barbie_

_P.S. You're still cute when you sleep._

He laughed. He'd been worried for nothing. He sighed in relief though then reread the part where she said she loved him. That brought a wide smile to his face. He got up and pulled his boxers on then walked into the living room just as she came in the door.

"Didn't I say you weren't leaving me again?" Damon asked her cocking an eyebrow showing the note and she giggled. How he'd missed that giggle. She set down the two cups of coffee and the little bag of groceries on the kitchen counter.

"I just didn't want to wake you while you were looking so cute." She teased and he smirked.

"We've been over this, Barbie. I'm not cute." He said in a mock warning tone.

"And if you remember, I got you to admit you were cute." She said and he laughed.

"You did, didn't you?" He asked amused then walked up behind her and leaned his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist. He could get used to this.

"So does this make you my boyfriend now?" She asked amused as she took the lids off the coffee. Damon wanted to laugh at her ridiculous question.

"Hmm... I don't know, Barbie. Seems like a big commitment." He teased and she laughed then turned around in his arms and put her own arms around his neck.

"Is that so?" She cocked an eyebrow and he laughed then kissed her.

"I was thinking more along the lines of you being mine forever." He said and she blinked in surprise at his answer.

"Works for me. So what would I introduce you as then if not my boyfriend?" She asked as he kissed her neck.

"How about fiancé?" He asked her and she gasped then took a step back and he smirked at her shocked face.

"Are you serious?" She asked in disbelief and he shrugged.

"I don't think boyfriend covers how I feel about you and I was going to do some grand gesture and propose but I'm crap at stuff like that and couldn't think of anything." He admitted and she laughed.

"I don't think it gets any grander than going to Klaus to find me." She smiled softly and he chuckled.

"Also, I figured I'd probably pick the wrong ring and you would no doubt rather pick your own." He smirked.

"You've really thought about this?" She asked surprised and he chuckled.

"I've been thinking about this since you took me to the car convention." He admitted honestly. "You've never thought about it?" Damon asked her curiously and she smiled then leaned forward and kissed him. She couldn't think of anything better than being with him forever.

"So you want to marry me, Damon?" She asked and he smirked.

"Are you proposing?" He asked amused and she laughed then hugged him.

"Sure, why not?" She asked and he laughed as he held her tightly.

"Yes, I'll marry you." He replied instantly and she grinned. "Don't worry, I'll still get you a ring." He said and she giggled.

"I didn't think you would be the marrying kind." She teased when she let go of him then handed him his coffee. He took a sip then shrugged.

"I was raised in the 1800s. I'm sure some of it stuck somewhere." He smirked.

"So you want to make an honest woman of me?" She asked amused and he laughed.

"After last night it's a bit late for that." He winked at her and she giggled.

"Damon, are we really getting married?" She asked sceptically and he smirked.

"Are you rescinding your proposal?" He asked in mock horror and she laughed.

"No but it just seems kind of... surreal." She replied.

"Well, I want to marry you. If you don't want to that's okay too. As long as I get to be with you, I don't really care about the details." He shrugged.

"I want to marry you too." She said softly and he smiled.

"So, what's the problem?" He asked and she laughed.

"I guess I just feel like I'm dreaming." She said shyly. "I keep expecting to wake up." She said. He walked forward and pinched her arm and she laughed.

"I've dreamt of getting to be with you for months. I know what you mean." He said softly. "It took me like five minutes to read your note because I was worried you changed your mind." He admitted.

"I'm never going to change my mind. I'm never going to not love you." She said.

"Even though I killed Bonnie?" Damon asked as they hadn't talked about that.

"She tried to kill you first. She was going to kill all of us." Caroline replied. "I understand why you did it." She nodded. "I still love you."

"Klaus wants to meet you." Damon replied and Caroline's eyes widened.

"Why?" She asked in disbelief.

"He wants to meet the woman that, in his words, captivates me so." Damon smirked.

"Is that safe?" She asked curiously.

"Think I'd ever put you in any danger?" Damon asked cocking his head to the side.

"No." She smiled. "Alright, I'll meet him." She agreed.

"We should probably talk about what we're going to do now." Damon said.

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"Well, I'm not leaving your side so if you want to stay here, I'll stay with you. Or if you want to go home, we'll do that. Or if you want to go travelling, we'll do that." Damon shrugged.

"I don't really know yet." She replied honestly. "I actually really like it here. I've only been here for just under a week but it's kind of great." She said and he smiled.

"I told you Gothenburg was fantastic." He smirked.

"I know. That's why I came here." She replied with a smile.

"Then we can stay here." Damon shrugged. "Remember I told you that I was thinking about moving away from Mystic Falls? This was my first choice to settle down in." He said.

"You wouldn't mind?" She asked surprised.

"Not at all. Though, I'll have to call Vin and Gianna and tell them because Gianna's been a nervous wreck since we left." Damon said.

"I feel terrible for that." Caroline said sadly.

"Don't." Damon said. "I would have left too if I'd heard what you heard."

"So you don't love Elena?" She asked.

"I do but it's like a friendship kind more than a romantic kind." He said. "I'm not in love with her."

"I think I understand what you mean." She nodded.

"The way you feel about Tyler?" Damon asked curiously.

"Yeah. I'll always care about him but he's not you." She said and he smiled.

"I spoke to him while I was waiting to board the flight to Paris." Damon said and she looked surprised. "He was glad I was going after you."

"He's a good guy." She said.

"He is, actually. We probably could have been friends if we weren't in love with the same girl." Damon said.

"What about Elena? Does she know you went after me?" Caroline asked softly.

"Honestly, I have no idea. We broke up then I went to tell you how I felt about you. That's when I found your letter." Damon said.

"So, if I'd waited a couple of hours, we wouldn't have had this mess." She muttered and he laughed.

"Maybe not, but then we wouldn't have gained Klaus as an ally." Damon smirked.

"How do you know he's an ally?" She asked curiously.

"He gave me his personal mobile phone number, that only like ten people have, and he gave me this." He pointed to the cord necklace he was wearing.

"I was wondering what that was." She said.

"It's an amulet that protects against witchcraft. Bonnie tried to kill me with her powers and she couldn't because of this." Damon said.

"I guess he wouldn't have done that if he didn't see you as an ally." Caroline conceded.

"It's not a bad thing to have the most powerful vampire in the world in your corner." Damon said and she smiled.

"What's he like in person?" She asked curiously then the two of them went to sit on the couch together.

"He's very different than you would think after finding out that he's the oldest and most feared vampire in the world. He looks like a regular guy in his mid twenties with kind of a childish face. He's kind of quiet and very well mannered and intelligent. He's well read and interesting and has a good sense of humour." Damon said. "Klaus is calm and collected and just comes across as a nice guy." Damon shrugged.

"You like him, don't you?" She smiled and Damon nodded.

"We agreed to be friends." Damon said and she laughed.

"Only you would make friends with Klaus." She said and he smirked.

"I think you'd like him too." Damon said. "I actually promised I would call him when I found you."

"I think we should call V and Gigi first." She replied.

"Alright." Damon nodded then went into the bedroom to get his phone then retook his seat on the couch. "Nobody but you knows about Bonnie." He said and she nodded then he dialled her number.

"_Damon! I've been waiting for days to hear back from you!_" She yelled and he chuckled.

"I've been busy." He smirked.

"_You found her?_" Gianna asked hesitantly.

"Mmhmm." He replied.

"_Thank God. Is she okay?_" She asked.

"She's fine." Damon nodded.

"_Is she your girlfriend now? Can I speak to her?_" Gianna asked quickly and he chuckled.

"You can speak to her but she's not my girlfriend." Damon said.

"_Well what is she then?_" Gianna asked confused and Damon smirked.

"My fiancé." Damon replied then moved the phone away from his ear just in time because she squealed loudly causing Damon and Caroline to laugh.

"_Congratulations!_" She yelled then Damon gave Caroline the phone.

"Thanks, Gigi." Caroline smiled.

"_I've missed you so much, Care!_" She said.

"I've missed you too!" Caroline exclaimed.

"_When are you coming home?_" She asked.

"Uh... we don't know yet." She replied.

"_Well, I really hate Mystic Falls and if you two aren't coming back then I'm not staying here._" She said.

"Why don't you come to Gothenburg?" Caroline suggested and Damon rolled his eyes.

"_I love Gothenburg! I'll be on the next flight out!_" She exclaimed and Caroline laughed at Damon's annoyed expression.

"Call Damon with your flight details and we'll pick you up." Caroline smiled.

"_I will! See you soon!_" She exclaimed then hung up.

"I can't believe you invited her to come here." Damon muttered and Caroline laughed.

"Don't be so grumpy." She giggled.

"She'll probably bring Elena." Damon replied and Caroline shrugged.

"Do I have anything to worry about?" She asked cocking an eyebrow and he rolled his eyes.

"Obviously not." He said and she laughed.

"Then there's no problem." She shrugged. "But if you're really going to live with me, we need to get a bigger place." She said looking around.

"Want to do that today? I quite like your apartment." Damon said.

"I like it too but we need somewhere bigger. Yeah, let's go find a house or something." She smiled.

* * *

><p>The two of them got ready then left the apartment. They found a real estate place a few streets away from Caroline's apartment and with a little compulsion they spent the next couple of hours looking at apartments and houses. Damon wasn't picky about stuff like that but Caroline always found something wrong with everything until they found a huge apartment in the centre of town overlooking the water. They walked in the door to a large circular hallway. Straight ahead they could see a dining room in the middle, a large living room off to the right and a large partitioned kitchen off to the left. There were two corridors leading away from the circular hallway, one on the very left and one on the very right. Down either corridor were two bedrooms, leaving four in total. Down the left corridor, one of the bedrooms was huge and had a very large bathroom attached to it with a Jacuzzi tub and the other bedroom was fairly small. The other two bedrooms down the right corridor were both around the same size and were quite large but not like the master bedroom.<p>

Caroline loved the apartment so Damon bought it on the spot. Damon figured that Vin could take the small bedroom if he came and Gianna and Elena could take the bedrooms down the other corridor if they both came. Damon really hoped that Elena wouldn't come as he figured that would be awkward as hell but it's not like he would turn her away either. Not after everything they'd been through together. Caroline was thrilled with the apartment and shocked that he bought it just like that because she liked it. They went back to the agency and signed the papers and Damon put it in both of their names then they got their keys and left.

"This is exciting." She grinned at him as they left the estate agency hand in hand and he smirked at her.

"Want to go pick out a ring?" He asked her and she giggled.

"House and ring shopping in one day? Who are you and what have you done with Damon?" She asked amused and he chuckled.

"I see your point." He shrugged. "But don't you want a ring?" He asked curiously and she giggled.

"Are you kidding? I'm dying to go ring shopping." She said and he chuckled.

"That's why I suggested it." He smirked.

"Then yes, let's do that." She grinned.

"Any ideas?" He asked curiously.

"Either a cushion or brilliant cut pave set diamond." She shrugged and he smirked.

"Pick whatever you want but I'm not putting some dinky ring on your finger." He said and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Dinky?" She asked for explanation and he chuckled.

"I'm getting you a rock not some teeny little thing, okay?" He asked and she laughed.

"Okay." She smiled. They walked down a few streets until they came to a large shopping street and Damon spotted a jewellery store and they went inside.

"Hej." The man in the shop greeted them when they came in.

"Hej. Vi skulle gärna villa köpa en förlovningsring." Damon said to him and Caroline looked at him surprised. She'd done most of the talking in the estate agency and had no idea that Damon could speak Swedish.

"Visst. Har ni några ideer hur den ska se ut?" The man replied.

"Hon vet mer eller mindre vad hon ska ha, men det blir nog någonting lite större. Om du förstår vad jag menar?" Damon smirked at him and he laughed.

"Jag hämtar dom speciella ringar." The man smiled and went into the back.

"Where'd he go?" She asked curiously and Damon chuckled.

"To get the rings that aren't on display." Damon replied with a smirk. The man returned a couple of minutes later with a few stacks of rings.

"Är det okej om jag låser dörren?" The man asked and Damon nodded then he went over to the door and locked it. "Komm fram." The man motioned and Damon led Caroline over to where he stood with the ring boxes.

"Wow, these are beautiful." Caroline said as she surveyed them.

"Do you have a style in mind?" The man asked Caroline and she smiled at him.

"Either a brilliant or cushion cut pave set diamond." She said and he smiled at her.

"There is this one or that one or that one." He pointed to three and she loved all of them. "Do you wish to try them on?" He asked her and she grinned.

"Yes, please." She smiled widely and he got a key and opened up the box and let her try the three of them on.

"I think that one's the prettiest." Damon pointed to the biggest one out of the three. She'd tried on two brilliant cut rings and one cushion and Damon liked the cushion. She was leaning more towards one of the brilliant cuts until she tried the cushion cut one on last. When it went on her finger she just loved it. It was perfect.

"I love that." She said looking down at her hand. Now that's what you call a rock, she thought to herself. These rings, she noticed, didn't have price tags like the regular display ones and she wasn't sure she wanted to know how much it cost.

"That one is a 4.5 ct diamond in the centre then the smaller diamonds in the pave setting add up to 1.2 ct. The metal is platinum." He explained.

"Does that mean anything to you?" Damon asked her looking baffled and she laughed.

"Remember you were saying about a rock?" She asked and he smirked. "That's a rock." She said and he chuckled.

"Is that the one you want?" He asked her.

"It's perfect." She grinned at him and he smirked then got his wallet out and pulled out a card and handed it to the man.

"We'll take that one." Damon said and Caroline's eyes widened.

"Don't you want to know how much it is?" Caroline asked and Damon chuckled.

"No." He laughed. "It really doesn't matter how much it is." Damon said. "Do you want to just wear it or get a box or what?" He asked her.

"Wear it, obviously." She grinned and he smirked. The salesman went over and ran his credit card then came back with a box and a receipt. Damon stuck them in his pocket without looking then put the card back in his wallet.

"Tack så mycket." Damon smiled at the salesman.

"Tack själv och grattis." He smiled back and Damon nodded.

"Shall we?" Damon asked Caroline.

"Thank you." She smiled at the salesman.

"Congratulations on your engagement." The salesman replied and she grinned at him then he unlocked the doors and let them out and they said bye. Caroline kept looking down at her left hand and Damon chuckled.

"Are you happy with that then?" Damon smirked at her and she giggled.

"You have no idea." She grinned and he laughed. "Thanks." She smiled.

"Don't thank me. I'm glad you like it." He shrugged. "What do you want to do now?" He asked.

"Get our stuff and move to the new place." She grinned and he chuckled.

"I'm going to need to get a car." He said.

"I got one. Our stuff will fit in it." She shrugged.

"Alright, my dear." He smirked.

* * *

><p>"You want me to be seen in that?" Damon asked in disbelief as he stared at the bright yellow Mini that had a black and yellow checkered roof. "You said you got a car. That's a toy." He said and she laughed.<p>

"Don't be ridiculous, Damon. Get in." She said.

"Do you know how to get to the new place?" Damon asked her and she laughed.

"Yes, why?"

"You just head on over and I'll go get a real car." He said and she laughed loudly.

"You're a dumbass." She smirked at him and he chuckled.

"Maybe, but I'm still not getting in that thing." He pointed to the car and she giggled.

"Fine, at least come and kiss me." She said as she pressed the button down on her window. Damon went around and leaned in the window and kissed her. "What car you going to get?" She asked amused after he stood back up.

"I'll just see what I find." He shrugged. "Seriously though? Yellow?" He asked in disbelief and she laughed then drove away and he shook his head. "God, I'm marrying Rainbow Brite." He muttered.

* * *

><p>Damon showed up at the apartment almost two hours later and let himself in with his key.<p>

"Barbie?" He called when he kicked off his boots.

"In here." She called back and he followed her voice down to their bedroom then went inside to see her making the king sized bed with black sheets and a black and lilac duvet cover.

"Purple?" Damon asked sceptically and she laughed.

"I'll go shopping and get more Damon-appropriate stuff tomorrow." She smirked. "Did you get a car?" She asked.

"Mmhmm." He grinned and she laughed.

"What did you get?" She asked.

"You won't have a clue what I'm talking about." He replied and she shrugged.

"So what? Tell me anyway." She replied.

"A 2008 Chevrolet Camaro." He grinned. "It's sweet." He said and she laughed at how excited he was.

"What colour?" She asked curiously.

"Black." He shrugged.

"What does it look like?" She asked and he chuckled.

"Have you seen the movie Transformers?" Damon asked her and she laughed.

"Have you?" She asked amused and he rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, why?" She asked.

"You know the yellow one? When they're in the tunnel and she says he's like an old car so he throws them out then comes back as a new one?" He asked and she nodded. "It's that car." He grinned and her jaw dropped.

"That's hot." She grinned.

"I know, right?" He asked with a matching wide grin.

"We're going to have to do a big shop tomorrow and get furniture and essentials." She said absently as she scanned the room.

"I'm going to need to buy clothes too." He said as he sat down next to her then pulled her into his arms on the bed and lay down with her curled on his chest.

"Think we'll stay here a while?" She asked him and he shrugged.

"If you want to. Why?" He asked curiously as he drew circles on her back with his fingertips.

"Just wondering if I should redecorate this place." She replied.

"What would you want to do?" He asked.

"I like most of it, I just don't like that peach colour on the walls or the couches in the living room and the kitchen's a little outdated. I like that the bedrooms are all painted white though. It's clean and fresh looking that way." She said and he nodded.

"What colour would you want to put in the living room?" He asked.

"Every other wall in the place is white then the living room is peach so white is fine for now." She replied.

"The kitchen?" He asked curiously.

"Instead of the light wood everywhere I'd like a dark kitchen." She said.

"That does sound better." He agreed. "We can go and look at kitchens at one of those home design places in the next couple of days and you can pick something then." He said.

"Then after a few months if we decide to stay here, we can think about changes in the bedroom and other rooms if we want to." She said.

"Alright." He nodded. "What do you want to do here?" He asked curiously.

"You mean like a job or college?" She asked and he nodded. "I was thinking about trying to get a job so I don't have to just compel everything." She replied.

"I have money if you want to go to college or something else instead." He said.

"I can't just let you pay for everything." She replied softly.

"It'll all be half yours when we get married anyway, what's the difference? We're going to be living together so..." He shrugged.

"Why don't we start up a business together?" She asked and he looked down at her intrigued.

"That could be interesting." He replied honestly. "Doing what?"

"I was thinking we could open a bar actually." She said and he grinned.

"I've always wanted my own bar." He replied a little too excitedly and she giggled.

"Why don't we do that then? Gio and I can be the barmaids." She said and he chuckled.

"I can't comment about my sister but you'll definitely bring in business." He winked at her and she giggled.

"She might be your sister but surely even you can see that she looks like a supermodel." Caroline said and Damon shrugged.

"Well, if the reactions she gets from men are anything to go by, I guess." He said.

"So, you're up for that then?" She grinned at him.

"Oh, yeah." He smirked. "What kind of bar?" He asked curiously.

"I was thinking along the lines of maybe a burlesque bar." She said and he cocked an eyebrow.

"Now you're talking." He smirked.

"And Gio and I can wear corsets and look all sexy." She said then Damon pinned her to the bed and kissed her neck.

"You in a corset... I'll never get any work done." He purred into her neck and she giggled.

"You'd get used to it after a couple of weeks." She said as she rubbed his back.

"I don't think so." He replied as he hitched her legs around him and she laughed.

"Well, I know what I'll be doing on my breaks." She teased and he laughed.

"Damn right... I think we should christen the apartment." He said as he kissed up her neck to her lips.

"I think we should." She said with a little moan.

* * *

><p>Later in the evening, the two of them were standing at the arrivals gate waiting for Gianna's flight to land. She hadn't specified who was coming or who wasn't... so they didn't know if it was just her or if the other two were coming. After they'd christened the apartment a couple of times, they'd talked a little more about the bar idea and decided to start looking for a place to open it if Gianna was interested in working there too. Damon was standing with his arm around Caroline's shoulders and she was hugged into his side as they waited. Gianna came out with no suitcases so Damon knew at least Vin was there and he smirked. He was glad that Vin would be there to buffer Gianna a little or she'd probably drive him mad. She ran over to them with a huge grin on her face and Damon laughed at his stupid sister.<p>

"Hey!" She exclaimed then hugged Caroline first then Damon.

"Take it Vin came since you don't have any luggage?" Damon smirked at her and she laughed.

"Why the hell should I take it if he can?" She asked amused and Caroline and Damon laughed.

"Did Elena come with you?" Damon asked curiously and Gianna shook her head.

"No, she wanted to stay and finish high school. Plus, Jenna and her brother are still there." She shrugged and Damon nodded. He was internally sighing in relief at that. "Anyway! Let me see the ring!" She exclaimed and Damon rolled his eyes while Caroline giggled then showed her rock to Gianna. "Now _that_ is a ring." She grinned.

"She picked it herself." Damon shrugged.

"You have great taste." Gianna grinned at Caroline. "Well, except in men." She teased and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Where's my brother? He's my favourite sibling you know." Damon replied and Gianna stuck her tongue out at him.

"Did you get us rooms at your hotel?" Gianna asked Caroline.

"No, Damon bought an apartment today." Caroline grinned.

"_We_ bought an apartment." Damon corrected.

"You and V will have your own rooms." Caroline explained.

"That's awesome." Gianna smiled. "When are you getting married?" She grinned.

"We haven't talked about that yet." Caroline shrugged then Vin came through the doors pushing a trolley with five huge suitcases on it and Damon rolled his eyes.

"I think you have more stuff than we do." Damon muttered and Gianna laughed.

"Four of them are mine." She said and Caroline laughed.

"That's all the shopping you were doing." She said. "Hey, V!" Caroline smiled when Vin reached them.

"It's good to see you." He grinned and gave her a bear hug. "I hear congratulations are in order, bro." Vin smiled then hugged Damon.

"Your sister's already started on the wedding nagging." Damon muttered and Vin laughed.

"She talked about it all the way here." Vin agreed and Damon shook his head while Caroline laughed.

"You're going to have to take two of the suitcases in the back seat." Damon muttered as Caroline took his hand and interlaced their fingers then they walked out to the parking lot.

"This car is sweet." Vin grinned when they got there.

"He only got it because he refused to get in my car." Caroline teased.

"What's your car?" Gianna asked curiously.

"A bright yellow Mini." Damon muttered and they laughed. "It's like a fucking toy car." He said as he put the cases in the trunk and tried to arrange them to fit. He managed to get a fourth case in barely as it was a little smaller. Caroline sat in the front seat while Damon got into the driver's seat and his siblings sat in the back with a suitcase over their laps. Damon's phone rang then and he smirked when he saw who it was as he hadn't been able to get through earlier. "Hey, Klaus." Damon answered and Gianna and Vin's jaws dropped.


	6. Friend

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

**Sorry I took so long! I know! I totally suck! lol**

* * *

><p>Finding Caroline<p>

Chapter 6

* * *

><p>"Hey, Klaus." Damon answered and he was thoroughly amused by the looks of disbelief his two siblings were giving him from the back seat. He smirked at them via the rear view mirror.<p>

"_Hello, Damon. I'm sorry I missed your call earlier, I was trapped in a very long and tedious meeting._" He said and Damon chuckled.

"Dude, why do you even have to go to those meetings? Can't you send a lackey?" Damon asked and Klaus laughed. Gianna and Vin's eyes bugged at Damon calling Klaus 'dude'.

"_I will remember that for next time. So did you find her?_" He asked and Damon smiled.

"Yes, I did." Damon said happily.

"_I take it things went well by your good mood?_" Klaus asked amused and Damon laughed. Gianna and Vin were too shocked by the conversation to say anything.

"Very well. We're getting married." Damon said and Klaus laughed.

"_Congratulations, my friend. Truly excellent news._" He said and Damon smirked knowing his siblings would be falling over themselves at the 'friend' comment.

"Thank you. I spoke to her and she would like to meet you too." Damon said.

"_Excellent. I am throwing a ball in Riga next week if you wish to attend?_" Klaus asked curiously.

"I'll speak to the future wife and get back to you. If she's up for that can my siblings come?" Damon asked.

"_Vin and Gianna?_" He asked.

"Yes." Damon replied.

"_Certainly._" Klaus said.

"What's the dress code?" Caroline asked and Damon rolled his eyes while Klaus chuckled.

"_It's ball gowns and tuxedos. Is that Caroline?_" Klaus asked.

"The one and only." Damon winked at her.

"_Please send her my regards._" Klaus said.

"I will. I'll call you later." Damon said.

"_I look forward to it. Speak to you soon._" He replied.

"Bye." Damon said then hung up.

"What the fuck was that?" Gianna asked shell shocked and Damon chuckled.

"We kind of hit it off." Damon shrugged.

"You made friends with Klaus?" Vin asked in disbelief and Damon shrugged.

"He's actually really quite a nice guy." Damon replied.

"I can't believe we're invited to a ball." Caroline grinned and they all laughed considering that seemed to be the only part of the conversation she paid any attention to.

"Do you want to go?" Damon asked her.

"Well, duh!" She replied and he laughed.

"Alright, I'll let him know. You two coming?" Damon asked amused.

"Is that safe?" Gianna asked.

"Yes, completely." Damon nodded.

"I'm game. Think he knows any hot vampire chicks?" Vin asked and Damon laughed.

"I met a few of his vampire friends; you might be interested in a couple of them." Damon shrugged.

"You didn't tell me you met his friends." Caroline said.

"We haven't done much talking." Damon smirked and his siblings laughed. "It was really only for like an hour while I waited on his witch to arrive." He said.

"Were they nice?" Caroline asked and Damon shrugged.

"I didn't have any problems and I never like anyone so I'm sure you three will hit it off with all of them." He said.

* * *

><p>They arrived back at the apartment a short while later.<p>

"Wow, this place is great." Gianna grinned when they walked in.

"Your bedrooms are down that hall." Damon pointed to the right hall.

"Where's yours?" Gianna asked.

"Down that hall." Caroline pointed in the opposite direction.

"Cool." Gianna said then went down the hallway and Vin followed her. Gianna picked the bedroom with the most windows so Vin took the other one. She unpacked her things then a short while later the four of them sat around the living room sipping some blood.

"We need to get a TV." Damon said absently as he put an arm around Caroline.

"We need to get a lot of things." Caroline nodded. "Can we ask them about the bar now?" She asked him and he chuckled.

"Go ahead." Damon shrugged.

"So, Damon and I were talking and we thought it would be cool to open our own bar and we wanted to know if you two wanted in on it." Caroline smiled at them.

"You and I can be the hot barmaids." Gianna winked at her and Caroline giggled.

"I already said that." Caroline smiled and Gianna laughed.

"Sounds cool." Vin nodded. "It should be a vampire bar." He said.

"A vampire bar?" Caroline asked in disbelief and the three of them laughed.

"They usually exist in most cities around the world. Somewhere vampires can go to meet other vampires etc." Damon shrugged.

"Would that be safe?" Caroline asked sceptically. "Would humans still go to it?"

"Yes, it would be safe. There wouldn't be that many vampires there anyway." Damon shrugged. "It would mainly be a human bar."

"So what makes it a vampire bar then?" Caroline asked confused.

"We could serve blood." Damon shrugged.

"So you want to steal bagged blood then sell it?" She asked amused and they laughed.

"Well, that and I'm sure a lot of vampires would snack on the humans." Damon smirked.

"We could have a donor room." Vin suggested.

"Explain." Caroline said and they laughed at her confused expression.

"Some vampire clubs and bars have like a feeding room where willing humans are fed from for a fee." Gianna shrugged.

"Donors are a great thing to have too because they're clued in on how to look after themselves and it makes things less messy." Vin added.

"How do you even find donors? I thought humans weren't supposed to know about us." Caroline said.

"They aren't but there are some that always find out. Donors usually are donating until they can find a vampire to turn them." Damon shrugged.

"Just don't let me near the donors then." Caroline said and Damon smirked.

"Why?" Damon asked curiously.

"They'd give me a sap story and I'd want to turn them all." Caroline said and the three of them laughed.

"Anyway, we can talk about the bar later. We need to figure out what we need for the apartment." Damon said to Caroline.

"TV, new couches, new bed, bed clothes, towels, iron, ironing board, DVD player and CD player." Caroline said and Damon chuckled. "What? That's what I was doing while you were out buying your car." She said.

"Is that it?" Damon asked curiously.

"No, but the other stuff isn't as important." She said.

"Like what?" He asked.

"Like kettle, coffee machine, blender, pots and pans, then personal touches like couch cushions etcetera." She shrugged.

"Why can't we just get that stuff tomorrow then?" Damon asked her and she rolled her eyes.

"Because we decided to redo the kitchen." She pointed out and he still gave her a blank look. "We'll have to colour coordinate." She said and he still had the blank look.

"You want to colour coordinate a blender and a kettle?" Damon asked deadpan and the other two laughed at Damon's clear lack of understanding.

"See, this is why I said later. I'll do all that and you don't have to think about it." She said and he sighed.

"Well, my dear, why don't we go pick a kitchen first then you know what colour it'll be and we can just get everything out of the way tomorrow?" He asked her calmly.

"Good idea." She smiled.

"I really don't want to have to go house crap shopping more than once." He said and she laughed.

"Do you want anything added or changed in here?" Caroline asked curiously.

"Yeah, I want a bar built in that corner." He pointed to an empty corner of the dining room.

"Okay." She smiled. "I'm sure we can find that at the same place they'll have the kitchens." She said.

"You two sound so domestic already." Gianna grinned and Damon rolled his eyes while Vin and Caroline laughed.

"We were practically in a relationship with each other for the last three months." Caroline shrugged. "It's not like we don't know each other inside out." She said.

"When do you think the wedding will be?" Gianna asked excitedly and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Gianna? You asked us that like an hour ago. Have you heard us discuss this yet?" Damon asked her annoyed.

"Why can't you discuss it now?" She asked.

"Please? Can you just talk about it already? I can't hear her talk about weddings anymore!" Vin exclaimed and Damon and Caroline laughed.

"Fine. When do you want to get married, Barbie?" Damon asked her with a smirk and she shrugged.

"It depends on where it is and who is invited." She replied.

"Human or vampire wedding?" Gianna grinned.

"What's the difference?" Caroline asked curiously as she'd never heard of a vampire wedding.

"A vampire wedding ceremony is a little different than a human one. You would get a vampire to do it for you and it would make you married in the vampire world." She smiled.

"Vampires don't count human wedding ceremonies?" Caroline asked fascinated.

"The more recently turned vampires will but the older ones won't." She said. "A vampire wedding is a little more like a ritual but any vampire you will encounter will know you are married because you create a magical blood bond." Gianna explained.

"What's the magical blood bond?" Caroline asked Damon and he shrugged as he'd no clue. He'd never seen a vampire marriage ceremony.

"It binds you to each other. Your life forces become entwined and you become complete equals. Your strength is added to the other's strength so Damon would only become marginally stronger but you would be as strong as him." Gianna smiled. "But, the downside is that if, for example, Caroline was killed, Damon would die too." She said. "And vice versa. But, you would strengthen quickly because you don't age alone anymore, you age double the amount as you would normally. It's a fantastic ceremony too." She grinned.

"Is that breakable?" Vin asked curiously.

"Isn't eternity the whole point of getting married?" Damon asked amused.

"It is breakable." Gianna nodded. "But it's hard. You really, really have to want to break it to be able to do it."

"It would be advantageous for you to be stronger." Damon said to Caroline as he thought about that.

"But would you really want to die if the other was killed?" Vin asked sceptically.

"Yes." Damon and Caroline said at the same time then looked at each other and laughed.

"Yay! So vampire ceremony!" Gianna said happily and Damon rolled his eyes while Caroline giggled at her enthusiasm.

"How would that even be arranged?" Damon asked her curiously.

"I'll look into it." Gianna grinned and he chuckled.

"I'll ask Klaus if he knows anyone that does the ceremony." Damon shrugged.

"But then he'll have to be invited." Vin said casually.

"So?" Damon asked. "I told you I like him."

"We couldn't have humans at a ceremony like that, could we?" Caroline asked curiously.

"No, that wouldn't be allowed." Gianna said.

"What happens during the ceremony?" Caroline asked.

"There are vows, blood sharing then the spell." Gianna said.

"I'm guessing there's no white dress." Caroline giggled.

"No, it's traditional for a vampire bride to wear blood red." Gianna grinned.

"How so?" Caroline asked and Gianna laughed.

"Because in the old days, they used to take a white dress, soak it in human blood then let it dry before wearing it." Gianna said. "But now you can just buy a dress in that colour."

"How do you know so much about this?" Damon asked curiously.

"Because I nearly did it in the fifties." She laughed.

"That stupid Max guy?" Damon asked unimpressed and Gianna laughed.

"Yes." She nodded.

"I really didn't like him." Damon said and they laughed.

"You don't like anyone." Gianna replied.

"Not true." Damon pointed out. "I like Barbie, Vin and Klaus." Damon smirked and Gianna rolled her eyes.

"Damon, I know you love me so don't even try that." She said amused and he shrugged.

"I love you because you're my sister. Doesn't mean I actually like you." Damon said and they laughed.

"You do like her." Caroline pointed out.

"Sometimes." He nodded. "When she isn't pissing me off."

"What a wonderful big brother I have." She rolled her eyes.

* * *

><p>"Okay, normally I wouldn't care but I have to admit this is cool." Damon grinned at Caroline when she suggested it. They were at a designer kitchen place and had been looking at different kitchens when Caroline suggested one. It was mainly black polished wood decorated with studs and the shelves and drawers looked like they should have been behind a bar. Damon <em>loved<em> it.

"So we'll get this one then?" Caroline smiled. It wasn't her first choice but the fact that Damon actually liked it that much was good enough for her. He'd been saying 'whatever you want' about the last 100 kitchens they'd looked at so she figured he must really like that one.

"Is that alright with you?" Damon asked surprised and she nodded.

"Yeah, it's great." She agreed. She did like it and the fact Damon liked it made it better.

"So what do we do then?" Damon asked.

"We go talk to one of the representatives. They'll send someone over to the apartment to measure our kitchen and design it for us." She smiled.

* * *

><p>The kitchen place was their first stop. They'd left Vin and Gianna at the apartment as it was their place at the end of the day and Damon didn't want his sister butting her nose in to the decorating as he figured Caroline should decide – not Gianna. He didn't really give a crap about the decorating and was fine with Caroline going as nuts as she wanted about it. After they'd picked the kitchen and spoken to the sales guy to make an appointment, they went to a furniture shop. They were lucky that the apartment had black wood floors as that went with everything. Caroline thought that red couches would be nice since the walls would soon be white and it would look nice with the black floors. Damon told her she was insane so they compromised. Black leather couches with red cushions. Their living room was really big so they ended up getting 1 three seater, 2 two seaters, 4 one seaters and 4 leg rests. They were all satin finished leather and studded. Caroline loved them when she saw them. Damon didn't really like them all that much but they were black as agreed so he didn't say anything. He knew that the kitchen wasn't Caroline's first choice so he relented on the couches.<p>

Caroline decided that they were going to have a round bed. That amused Damon but he didn't care as long as it was comfortable. When they found the bed, Caroline ended up in a big discussion with a bedroom designer then she got all these ideas for their room, so they ended up with an appointment to get their room done too. Damon didn't mind. He liked seeing her happy and as long as the room wasn't yellow or pink he didn't really care, though he heard some of her ideas and thought they'd end up with a nice bedroom. She picked out light grey-blue gloss tiles for their bedroom floor, medium grey-blue paint for the walls and white bedroom furniture as well as white curtains for the windows. Damon also picked a small home bar for the corner. It was plain black and nothing special. He really didn't put any effort into finding one because he didn't really care about it.

After that, they went and bought a TV, DVD player, CD player, as well as household stuff like an iron, kettle, coffee machine and everything else Caroline could think of. They had to make a few trips to the apartment because they couldn't fit anymore stuff in the car. In the afternoon, Damon was well and truly fed up so he went clothes shopping by himself because he genuinely didn't believe Caroline would be able to go clothes shopping with him without taking forever. He just walked into stores, grabbed the stuff he liked in his sizes and bought them without much thought, whereas she liked to try things on and try new things and suggest things to him and he couldn't keep shopping. He refused. So he went by himself. He had a full wardrobe of clothes bought in 25 minutes. He'd been so quick that Caroline thought he'd come back because he forgot something until she saw he had like ten shopping bags. She was stunned at how little time it took him. It was Vin and Gianna's job to go to the supermarket and get food and booze and they'd stocked the kitchen with everything they could think of as well as buying about 100 bottles of booze.

That night, Damon was tired and crabby and in no mood for anyone so he went out to a bar by himself and Caroline hung out with Vin and Gianna. She knew Damon inside and out and she knew that he needed time to himself sometimes so it didn't bother her. Damon came home a few hours later in a much better mood and the four of them had a few drinks then went to bed. The next morning, there was a knock at the door and Damon answered. It was a vampire which surprised him.

"Damon Salvatore?" The vampire asked and Damon nodded. The vampire didn't look like he was trying to cause trouble but Damon was on guard just in case. "These are from Klaus." He said handing over four large envelopes.

"Thank you." Damon said then the vampire disappeared. Damon stepped inside and looked over the envelopes. Damon Salvatore, Caroline Forbes, Gianna Salvatore, Vin Salvatore. Damon opened the one addressed to him and pulled out an invitation to the ball on heavy expensive parchment paper with ornate old style lettering and he smirked. Hand delivered invitations? He must have made some impression.

"What was that about?" Caroline asked as she went into the hall.

"Hand delivered invitations for all of us to the ball." Damon shrugged and handed over her invitation. She opened the envelope and pulled out her invitation and grinned.

"Wow, this is awesome. You must have made some impression." She said and he chuckled.

"I always do." Damon smirked and she rolled her eyes. But she knew it was true.

"So when are we going to Latvia?" She asked curiously.

"I'll speak to Klaus and see when he's going. I'm guessing he wants to meet the three of you before the ball." He shrugged.

"And I've never been there before." Caroline replied. "It would be nice to maybe go for a few days instead of only going for the ball." She smiled.

"Then we'll go for a few days. Riga is a beautiful city. You'll really like it." He nodded.

"Great." She grinned. "What do you want to do today?" She asked curiously and he shrugged.

"I was thinking we could go look at places for the bar." He said.

"If it's going to be a burlesque vampire bar, it should probably be somewhere away from public eyes, don't you think?" She asked and he chuckled.

"Either that or we'll have to just play really loud music in the feeding room." He smirked.

"Damon... we're not going to have vampires killing though, right?" She asked hesitantly.

"It might happen occasionally, but it won't be a regular thing. Normal vampire free bars have the occasional death in them too. It comes with the territory." He replied. "But we'll have a no killing policy." Damon promised. "It would be a younger vampire that would kill in a vampire bar anyway so I'll take them out if they do that." He said.

"We'll have to hire staff." Caroline said.

"Why?" Damon asked surprised.

"Well how often would you want to be open? We can't just work every single day of the week." She pointed out and he chuckled.

"I was thinking about being open from 8pm till 1am apart from Fridays and Saturdays when we'd be open until 3am." He shrugged.

"Yeah, the four of us can't run a bar seven days a week. We'd end up hating it." She said.

"You're right." He nodded. He hadn't really thought of that but he knew himself if he _had_ to go, he wouldn't _want_ to go.

"What about being open five days a week? When we figure out the slow nights, those can be the nights where we don't all have to work there. Like for example if we were open Thursday through Tuesday and closed on Saturdays and Wednesdays, maybe just you and I could run the bar on Monday nights and Vin and Gianna could run it on Tuesday nights. That way we all get three days off a week but you and I get a night in the apartment alone and Gio and Vin get a night without us too." Caroline shrugged. "Since we're all living together, we will need time away from each other since we'll be working together too." She pointed out.

"It's a good idea but why would we be closed on Saturdays?" Damon asked confused.

"Where did you always tell me was the place to go in Gothenburg on a Saturday?" She smiled amused.

"Okay, I see your point." He nodded.

"We'll probably be playing similar music since it's a vampire bar and a burlesque bar at that. Friday nights should be our performance night." She grinned. "We'll get a choreographer and burlesque dancers to get shows started. This is exciting." She smiled.

"This really could be fun." Damon agreed with a fond smile. "You know, I think we should go on a date tonight." He said and she giggled.

"I suppose, we're engaged and never went on one." She agreed.

"What do you want to do?" Damon asked.

"Why don't we go to Liseberg?" She grinned.

"The amusement park?" Damon asked surprised.

"Yeah." She smiled. "They're open till 11pm and they always have concerts on so we could check that out, go on some rides, eat cotton candy... it'll be fun." She said happily.

"Alright." Damon smirked. Anything that made her that happy was fine with him. He liked Liseberg anyway so it would probably be fun. "Want to go in the afternoon?" He asked.

"Yeah." She smiled. "Though I think we should skip looking at venues and do that tomorrow." She said.

"Why?" Damon asked confused. Caroline walked over to him and put her arms around his neck and he held her waist.

"Because I know Vin and Gigi are going shopping this morning and we'll have the place to ourselves." She said seductively and he smirked.

"So you want to spend the morning in bed?" Damon asked with a smile. Caroline leaned forward to whisper in his ear so that his siblings wouldn't hear her.

"Well, we don't have to stay in bed if V and Gio aren't here." She said and he chuckled.

"I love you." He said amused and she giggled.

* * *

><p>Damon and Caroline spent all morning having sex all over the apartment until Damon got a text from his sister saying they'd be back in ten minutes and did they want anything brought in. They got showered and dressed then Damon figured he should call Klaus and ask about Riga. The ball was only five days away and Caroline was bugging him to get more information so he dialled the Original's number.<p>

"_Hello Damon._" Klaus answered happily.

"Hey, I was just calling to say the invitations came." Damon replied.

"_Excellent. Will all four of you definitely be attending?_" Klaus asked.

"Yes, definitely. When are you going to Riga? Caroline wants to go for a few days instead of just for the ball." Damon explained.

"_I am heading there the day after tomorrow actually. I'll be there for a week._" He replied.

"Okay, I'll give you a call when we get there. Maybe we can go for a drink or something." Damon shrugged.

"_I look forward to it._" Klaus replied.

"Me too. By the way, can we keep the Bonnie thing from my siblings? Caroline knows but I don't want Vin and Gianna to know." Damon said.

"_That's fine with me, Damon. I won't reveal it to them. How did Caroline take her death?_" Klaus asked.

"Honestly? The fact the witch tried to get me killed made her want to kill Bonnie herself." Damon said amused and Klaus laughed.

"_I very much look forward to meeting Caroline. She sounds wonderful._" Klaus replied and Damon chuckled.

"She is. She's looking forward to meeting you too." Damon replied. "Advance warning, my brother might hit on some of your friends." Damon said amused and Klaus laughed. "I think me getting together with Caroline has made him want a girlfriend." Damon chuckled.

"_I have been thinking about it myself actually. You just sound so happy._" Klaus said and Damon smirked.

"I am. Life – or should I say death – is good right now." Damon smiled and Klaus chuckled.

"_That's excellent. Will you be staying in Gothenburg for a while?_" He asked curiously.

"Yeah. We bought an apartment and we're going to open a vampire bar." Damon replied.

"_That's wonderful. Let me know when you open and I'll be sure to put the word out about it._" Klaus said and Damon smiled. He really liked Klaus. He was just such a nice guy. Damon was sure that not a lot of people got to know Klaus before they made judgements about him.

"That's really great of you. Thanks. I'll let you know when our opening night is and if you're free you should come. It'll be a burlesque bar." Damon said.

"_How interesting. That sounds great. I'll definitely come._" Klaus replied happily. "_Will you have a donor room?_" He asked.

"That's the plan." Damon nodded. "I'll need to look into how to get donors and stuff so it may be a little while before that's in place." He said.

"_A vampire I am acquainted with has a few vampire bars and clubs and he will be at the ball. I will introduce you. I am sure he would be more than happy to offer advice._" Klaus said.

"Thank you." Damon smiled.

"_You are very welcome. It was lovely to hear from you, Damon. Please call me when you get to Riga._" Klaus said.

"I will. We'll see you soon." Damon agreed.

"_I look forward to it. Goodbye, my friend._" He said.

"Bye, Klaus." Damon said then hung up. Caroline came in the room then.

"He sounds so nice." Caroline said and Damon nodded.

"I think a lot of people just think 'Aah! Klaus!' when they meet him and don't bother actually talking to the guy. He's been nothing but nice to me and I'm really looking forward to getting to know him better." Damon replied and she smiled.

"I was worried about meeting him to be honest, but now I'm not. I really want to get to know him too." She said.

"Can you tell Gianna that? She's freaking out about meeting him. Vin trusts my judgement on it so he's not worried but Gianna thinks I might be wrong about him." Damon said.

"I'll tell her." Caroline nodded with a smile. "So when do you want to fly there?" Caroline asked.

"Klaus is going in two days and the ball is in five so want to go like two days before the ball?" He asked.

"So in three days?" She asked and he nodded. "Cool. We need to go get dresses and tuxes though." She said.

"Maybe you and Gianna can go do that tomorrow?" Damon asked. "Vin and I can go look for the bar if you'd rather skip that part. It'll probably be really boring looking at buildings all day." He said and she giggled.

"That works for me." She smiled then leaned down and kissed him.

"What was that for?" He smirked.

"Just because I love you and I like being able to do that whenever I want." She replied and he laughed. He stood up and pulled her into him.

"I love you too." He said as he kissed her softly. "And I know what you mean." He smiled.


	7. Birthday Chapter For Murray

I don't own The Vampire Diaries, I'm just a fan :)

**Happy Birthday Spiritedghost! :) Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Finding Caroline<p>

Chapter 7

* * *

><p>Caroline and Gianna were just about to head out to go look for ball gowns.<p>

"Barbie, go on down to the car, I need to speak to my sister for a second." Damon said to her and she nodded.

"Okay, see you later." Caroline said then kissed Damon and hurried out of the apartment. Once Damon heard her enter the elevator he turned to his sister.

"What's up?" Gianna asked him.

"This is Caroline's first ball and I know it's a big deal for her. I know the types of dresses she likes so I'll know if you talked her into something." Damon said to her and Gianna looked surprised. "You will _not_ pressure her into getting anything. If she finds something that she loves, I don't care how much you hate it, leave her alone and let her be herself." Damon warned and she rolled her eyes.

"But it's a vampire ball. She'll end up getting something totally wrong for it if I don't help." Gianna said and Damon shook his head.

"I don't care if she comes back with a dress that's baby blue covered in glitter. If that's what she wants, that's what she gets. So if she comes back with something black or blood red, I'll know you had something to do with that because Caroline would never get a dress like that. She's practically a Care Bear, Gianna, and that's just fine with me. Leave her alone. Got it?" Damon asked her annoyed and Gianna smiled.

"As much as you're totally being a buzz-kill, I think it's really sweet that you just want her to be herself." Gianna said and Damon rolled his eyes.

"She never tries to change me. Why would I do it to her?" He asked. "You are her friend and she trusts you, so be her friend today. She won't try and talk you into getting something pastel so why should you do that to her with dark colours?" Damon asked her and she sighed.

"Fine. I'll only tell her I don't like it if it doesn't fit right or something." She said and Damon smirked.

"Good." Damon nodded. "Off you go then." Damon opened the door and motioned for her to follow Caroline and she smirked at him.

"I actually quite like this loving side to you, Damon. I'm glad you found someone that makes you happy." She said and he chuckled.

"Yeah, me too. Now, out." He said and she laughed then left.

* * *

><p>Caroline and Gianna went to practically every dress shop in Gothenburg. They found dresses they liked but they were mainly quite plain or too boring for a ball hosted by Klaus. Eventually they came across a tiny boutique and it turned out each dress was a one of a kind. That was exactly what they were looking for and they started trying on practically everything in the store. They both found several dresses that they loved and after they tried everything on, they both had the dresses that they would wear to the ball. Gianna actually didn't hate Caroline's choice at all and thought the dress really suited her. Caroline loved Gianna's dress and said she looked like a 'sexy vampire princess' which was just the look Gianna was going for. Caroline still looked a little like a Barbie but Gianna knew that Damon wouldn't have her any other way so she didn't comment on it and they bought their dresses and left. They managed to get matching bags and shoes at the boutique so they went home after being there.<p>

Damon and Vin were already home by the time the girls got back as it was nearly dinner time since they'd spent all day all over the city in search of their dresses. They walked in the door with their bags and Damon went into the hall and kissed Caroline.

"You get anything?" Damon asked her.

"Yeah, I got the perfect dress." Caroline grinned.

"Good." He nodded. "Will you show me?" He asked with a smirk.

"Is that to assess if it's appropriate?" She asked amused and he rolled his eyes.

"No, Damon doesn't care what colour it is. Before we left he told me to leave you alone and let you choose whatever the hell you want." Gianna said and Caroline looked surprised. She thought that was really sweet of him.

"Let me guess. Your dress is black and red." Damon said to his sister with a cheeky smile and Caroline laughed while Gianna rolled her eyes.

"Well, yes." She nodded and Damon chuckled.

"Exactly. You have your taste and Barbie has hers. That's all I said to you." Damon pointed out and Caroline smiled at him lovingly.

"Mine is bright yellow." Caroline said to him and Damon had been preparing for something like that so he just shrugged. Though he _hated_ yellow with a passion, if she liked it, he would force himself to like it too.

"As long as it's the dress you wanted." He said honestly and both girls' jaws dropped.

"You hate yellow." Gianna said to him in disbelief.

"Yeah, but I love Caroline. So it doesn't matter." He said and both girls grinned at him.

"I was only kidding." Caroline said to him and he smirked.

"Really?" He asked her and she nodded.

"It's not yellow. I just wanted to see your reaction." She said amused and he nodded.

"Thank God. I really hate yellow." He said and both girls laughed loudly.

"So you want to see them?" Gianna grinned.

"I want to see Caroline's. I don't really care what yours looks like." Damon said and she scowled at him.

"Damon." Caroline said in disbelief and he shrugged.

"I have been to countless balls with Gianna. It'll be practically the same dress as always, just a tiny bit different." He said to her and Gianna tutted her tongue.

"This one is _totally_ different." She said to him and he chuckled.

"You always say that. Whatever. You show me too then." He rolled his eyes. "Vin and I are drinking in the living room if you want to come in there when you're done." He shrugged then walked back and sat down next to his brother. Gianna came out first wearing a gown with a plunging sweetheart bust. The colour was a darker wine type colour of red with black beading over the bodice in flower shapes. Across the hips was a brighter red sash fitted with a large black flower pinned on the left side. The skirt went straight out and was red underneath with a fine layer of black over it so the red could still be seen through. Her bag matched the red and also had a black flower pinned to it. Her shoes were peep toe heels with cut out sides and ruffles along the back.

"That's nice." Vin nodded.

"Nice?" Gianna asked in disbelief.

"DJ's right, Gio. You always get the same kind of dress." Vin said and Damon smirked.

"If it makes you feel any better, that version of the dress is the nicest one so far." Damon offered and Gianna rolled her eyes.

"I so wish one of you had been a girl. Brothers suck." She said and they laughed.

"You don't think we've wished you had been a boy?" Vin asked her and she scowled at them both causing them to laugh. "Couldn't you have gone for a different colour with the dress? Maybe like..." Vin trailed off.

"Dark blue would go with your skin tone and hair." Damon said to her and she rolled her eyes.

"I like these colours." She said.

"Then why do you give a crap what we think?" Damon asked her and she smirked.

"Good point. I don't." She said and they laughed. "Care? Aren't you coming out?" She called. Damon hoped Caroline hadn't gone for something like Gianna had. He'd been to plenty of vampire balls and all the girls always wore dresses like Gianna's and he hoped Caroline would be herself and be bold and wear something different.

"Okay, but somebody cover Damon's eyes. V's too. I want it to be a surprise." She called back and Damon chuckled. Vin covered Damon's eyes and Gianna moved around to cover Vin's eyes.

"Okay, both boys can't see." Gianna called back with a giggle. Damon was highly amused by this but that was Caroline for you. Caroline walked into the room and Gianna smiled at her. "Ready?" She asked and Caroline nodded. Gianna pulled her hands away from Vin and he did the same with Damon and both boys looked at her and grinned. Damon thought she looked _fantastic_. The dress had a pink and purple sequinned bust with a hot pink sash under the bust. The skirt flowed from under the bust and was pink, purple and blue animal print underneath then the top layer was hot pink but was sheer enough so you could still see the animal print coming though. She had a bright pink sparkly oval clutch purse to match and pink glittery peep toe sling back sandals on. Damon thought the whole thing was _so her_. He was glad that Gianna clearly hadn't stuck her nose in with the dress. That and he thought she looked seriously amazing.

"Wow." Damon grinned. "You look gorgeous." He said and she beamed at him.

"You do. I love it. You look amazing." Vin said with a huge smile. "There won't be a single vampire girl there that'll look anything like you." He said fondly and she giggled.

"Is that a good thing?" She asked.

"Yes." The boys said at the same time and she laughed.

"You do totally look like Ball Gown Barbie though." Damon smirked and they all laughed.

* * *

><p>Their flights to Latvia were in the afternoon the following day so Damon and Vin were going back out to look at venues in the morning. They'd had no luck for two days in a row and admittedly they were running out of places. That was, until they were shown <em>the<em> place. They both loved it. It was on a single floor but it was very large and had five main areas. The club was in a U shape and there were three rooms at the front and one leading off at the back of the two end rooms at the front. They figured one of the back rooms could be a feeding room and the other could be the performance room for the burlesque shows which would leave the front three rooms as the main areas. The middle one would be where the bar was and the other two could be dance floors or one could be a dance floor and the other could be like a private entry area that could be rented or a VIP type room. Regardless, they loved it anyway and they bought it on the spot then hurried home to tell the girls all about it.

Damon checked them in for their flight online which he loved since he got Gianna and Vin seats away from him and Caroline so they'd have a little time together. He didn't tell them he'd done that though as no doubt Gianna would complain. He loved his siblings but he wanted some time with his girl. It was a nice flight and he and Caroline watched a movie together on her laptop to pass the time. Damon was quite looking forward to seeing Klaus if he were honest. He'd gotten along really well with the Original and thought it would be nice to spend some time with him.

They'd booked three suites at the Grand Palace Hotel in Riga for the night and after they checked in they took their things up to their rooms. They agreed to meet back downstairs at the bar. Caroline and Damon ended up getting frisky so they showed up a little later than expected. They saw Gianna and Vin sitting in a booth and headed towards them until Damon noticed a familiar face at the bar. He looked up and smiled. Klaus grinned back at him. Gianna, Vin and Caroline looked at Damon confused when he walked away from them. Damon walked over to him and he'd noticed that Klaus was a hugger when he met him before so it didn't surprise him with Klaus hugged him and the guy was an Original so obviously Damon hugged him back then smirked. Gianna and Vin were kind of stunned at Damon hugging this random guy since Damon didn't ever hug people normally.

"Fancy meeting you here." Damon smirked and Klaus laughed.

"Are you also staying here?" Klaus asked him with a grin. Damon could tell that Klaus was happy to see him and Klaus could tell the same from Damon.

"We are indeed. I was going to join my siblings then give you a call. We landed about an hour and a half ago." Damon said and Klaus smiled.

"It is good to see you, Damon." Klaus said and Damon smiled.

"You too. Do you want to come meet Caroline?" He asked and Klaus grinned and nodded. "Come join us then." He nodded his head to the booth. Damon walked over and Klaus followed after he picked up his drink. "That's Gianna, Vin and this is Caroline." Damon motioned for each of them. "Barbie, this is Klaus." Damon said and he noticed Gianna's eyes widened very slightly and he hoped Klaus hadn't noticed because Damon kind of wanted to slap her for that. Caroline stood up and smiled at him warmly and held out her hand.

"It's lovely to meet you, Klaus. I've been really looking forward to it." She said sincerely and Damon could tell that Klaus was happy with her reaction to him. He took her hand and kissed it like the gentleman that he was.

"It's wonderful to meet you too, Caroline. I have heard so much about you." Klaus smiled. Vin stood up too and shook his hand.

"Vincenzo Salvatore. Nice to you meet you." Vin smiled. He trusted Damon with his life so if Damon thought Klaus was a good guy, he had no reason to doubt it. "Though, call me Vin." He said and Klaus smiled at him.

"It's nice to meet you too, Vin." Klaus said. Damon shot Gianna a look so she stood up and held out her hand.

"Hello, I'm Gianna. Though I hate my name so call me Gio or Gigi." She said to Klaus and Klaus kissed her hand like he'd done with Caroline.

"It's a pleasure, Gigi." Klaus said genuinely and Damon could tell Gianna felt a little less intimidated now. Damon could tell that Klaus was totally checking out his sister and it made him smirk. He had to bite his lip so he wouldn't say 'good luck with that one' to Klaus as Damon could imagine that going out with his sister would be a _nightmare_.

Damon and Klaus sat down in the circular booth with the other three.

"I feel like champagne." Gianna said as she looked over the drinks menu and Damon rolled his eyes.

"You always feel like champagne." Damon pointed out and Gianna smirked at him.

"Well, since you said you're buying tonight, we'll get the _really_ expensive stuff." She winked at him and the boys chuckled.

"How's that different from any other time we're out together?" Damon asked her amused and she giggled.

"That's what big brothers are for." She pointed out and they all laughed.

"Klaus, can I just say, I am so looking forward to the ball." Caroline grinned at him and Klaus smiled widely while the Salvatores laughed.

"She hasn't talked about anything else." Vin smiled at her fondly.

"It's my first ball. I'm excited." She pointed out.

"I am quite looking forward to it myself." Klaus agreed.

"Is it an all vampire ball?" Gianna asked curiously.

"Yes, there will be no humans in attendance." Klaus nodded. The vampires understood then to their surprise that no fresh feeding was allowed at the ball.

"What's the ball for?" Damon asked him. "I really should have asked you that. Barbie just heard 'ball' and had to go." He smirked and they laughed.

"It is a celebration regarding the curse actually." Klaus replied.

"Celebrating that it can't be broken?" Damon asked curiously and Klaus smiled and nodded.

"Yes. None of the older vampires wanted it broken. Most vampires above the age of one hundred were able to get a hold of sunlight protection so it is not really an issue." He said and they nodded. "But this way, werewolves can never break the curse either. That is what we are celebrating." He said.

"Any excuse for a party, huh?" Damon smirked and Klaus laughed at him being so blunt. He _so_ liked that about Damon.

"It is a good reason to celebrate though, Damon." Caroline said. "We don't need even _more_ opportunities for werewolves to kill us." She said.

"I seriously think they all need to be taken out." Damon replied.

"Yes, I quite agree with you there." Klaus nodded.

"I'm usually against your ideas to kill things, Damon, but I have to agree too." Gianna said.

"Well, once we get bored of the bar, we can form a little werewolf hunting group." Damon winked at his sister and they laughed. Klaus looked at him curiously.

"Is that something you think you would be interested in?" Klaus asked him and Damon shrugged.

"A friend of mine died from a wolf bite. I had to stake her." Damon said and they all saw it was obviously difficult for him to talk about. "I never want to see that happen ever again. I'd gladly take them all out." He said.

"It is something to consider." Klaus agreed thoughtfully.

"Elijah isn't going to be at this ball, right?" Damon asked Klaus cocking an eyebrow and Klaus chuckled.

"No, definitely not. I am certainly no fan of his as you know." Klaus smirked and Damon nodded amused.

"Good. He'd probably kill me if he saw me again anyway." Damon smirked.

"Why?" Klaus asked confused.

"I staked him with a coat rack. He wasn't too pleased." Damon said and Klaus' eyes widened a little then he laughed.

"You managed to stake him?" Klaus asked shocked and Damon nodded. "That is impressive." Klaus said appreciatively and Vin chuckled.

"Or he could just be losing his touch." Vin teased and Damon rolled his eyes while the others laughed.

"I doubt Originals lose their touch, V." Caroline said amused and they laughed.

* * *

><p>Klaus hung out with the four of them for a couple of hours and he was getting along great with them all. They very quickly forgot he was 'Klaus' as he was just a really nice guy and they all saw it. Gianna finally understood why Damon liked him so much. Eventually, Damon got peckish and decided to go out for a bite and Klaus opted to go with him. They took a walk through the dark streets as they chatted. Damon had an odd feeling. Like they were being followed, but he didn't say anything. Eventually they found a deep alley that was almost black. Damon compelled a girl to follow him in and he fed from her while Klaus stood guard at the street then when Damon was finished he sent the girl away then Klaus did the same while Damon stood guard. Damon then overheard something that sounded a lot like 'the white oak ash stake will kill him' and he was on high alert. He stepped back into the shadows and watched as two vampires tiptoed into the alley Klaus was in. When they were far enough away from the street, Damon attacked. He pushed them both up against the wall and had his hands in their chests and their hearts were in his hands a second later and they slumped to the ground. He dropped the hearts but before he could search the bodies he was pushed face first into the wall. He spun around and found himself face to face with another vampire. They fought and since Damon was seriously wily, he managed to eventually kill the vampire who was clearly several centuries older than him. He ripped his heart out too then searched the three bodies after extending his senses to check for anyone else. Klaus had heard the scuffle and returned to find Damon fighting a vampire but he'd been too <em>shocked<em> to say anything. Especially the moment Damon killed the vampire... who was 700 years old and one of Klaus' enemies. Damon hadn't noticed Klaus as he searched the three corpses. Then he found what he'd been looking for. A white oak ash stake. He pulled it out and stood up then he saw Klaus there. Damon was covered in blood from the fight. Damon held out the stake to him which kind of _shocked_ Klaus.

"Why would you hand me that?" Klaus asked him confused.

"It could kill you. Figured you'd rather have it than leave it in the alley." Damon shrugged and Klaus blinked in surprise then took the stake while Damon's attention went back to the bodies as he contemplated what the hell to do with them. Klaus felt like he was going to faint or something. There were hardly any of those stakes in the world and Damon had just handed it over without a second thought. He knew that it hadn't even crossed Damon's mind to keep it.

"How did this happen?" Klaus asked pointing to the bodies, clearly still totally stunned.

"I was keeping guard and I overheard one of them whisper that the white oak ash stake would kill you. So I killed them." Damon shrugged. "Then that one attacked after they were dead. So I killed him just because he pissed me off. Sorry if you knew him." Damon said.

"You protected me." Klaus said shocked and Damon smirked.

"We're friends, Klaus. That's what friends do." He replied amused. Damon thought it was kind of a shame that nobody seemed to really get to know Klaus well enough to really be friends with him. Clearly Klaus wasn't used to someone _willingly_ protecting him. "Any suggestions on how the hell I'm going to get to my suite without being seen like this?" Damon asked amused as he looked down at himself and saw all the blood.

"The employee entrance." Klaus said automatically and Damon nodded.

"Alright." He shrugged. "If these three goons were really going to kill you, maybe you should up your security at the ball." Damon said as he thought about that. "And burn that stake." Damon said pointing to it. "You can't have something like that sitting around." He said. Klaus felt shocked all over again. He knew Damon was impressive for a vampire his age but Klaus recognised the three dead vampires... The other two were both older than Damon and he'd killed all three of them without any real problems.

"Those two were part of my security and that one was one of my enemies." Klaus said and Damon narrowed his eyes at Klaus.

"Part of your security? Well, I don't want to tell you how to run things, but you seriously need to compel the rest of them and make sure none of them are planning something." Damon said and Klaus nodded. "You can't afford traitors in the ranks." Damon added. "I seriously hate fucking traitors. There's nothing worse." He mumbled as he dragged the bodies down the alley. He piled them up in a corner, removed their sun protection then set them on fire. He had a hip flask in his pocket so he pulled it out and poured some of the bourbon over the bodies. "Wasting good bourbon on traitors." He muttered and Klaus chuckled despite himself.

"Thank you, Damon." Klaus said sincerely and Damon shrugged.

"Don't worry about it." He replied. "We're changing hotels tomorrow. Maybe you should do the same if they know where you are." He said.

"Why are you changing your hotel?" Klaus asked surprised and Damon chuckled.

"Because Caroline really wanted to stay at the Dome hotel but they didn't have any free rooms tonight so we managed to get every night except tonight at the Dome." Damon said amused and Klaus smiled.

"Do you know if they have any free rooms there from tomorrow?" Klaus asked and Damon shrugged then got his phone out. He dialled the number for the hotel that he'd saved.

"_Dome Hotel Riga. How may I help you?_" A woman answered.

"Good evening, my name is Damon Salvatore and I was wondering if I would be able to have another suite added on to my reservation starting tomorrow?" Damon asked on the phone.

"_Good evening, Mr Salvatore. I see here that you have the Grand suite and two deluxe suites booked for four nights. You wish to have another deluxe suite added to your reservation?_" She asked and Damon looked at Klaus who nodded. Damon could see how grateful he looked.

"Yes, is that possible?" He asked curiously.

"_Certainly, Mr Salvatore. Also for four nights?_" She asked and Damon looked at Klaus who nodded again. Damon thought maybe Klaus would just leave when they left instead of staying the full week.

"Yes, please." Damon replied.

"_That is done for you then. Is there anything else I can help you with this evening?_" She asked.

"No, thank you, that's great." He replied.

"_You are very welcome, Mr Salvatore, and we look forward to having you at the Dome. Have a nice evening._" She replied.

"Thank you. You too. Goodbye." Damon said then hung up. "There. All fixed." Damon smirked.

"Thank you again, Damon." Klaus said sincerely.

"Don't worry so much." Damon replied with a smirk and Klaus felt really warmed by Damon's kindness. "But, I need to not be covered in blood so let's get the hell out of here." Damon said amused and Klaus chuckled.

"Yes, let's." He agreed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Caroline & Gianna's ball outfit links are on my profile if you want to take a look :D**


	8. Revelations

I don't own The Vampire Diaries. So apparently Damon is going to hook up with another vampire on the show soon, I swear if it's not Caroline I'm going to actually throw something across the room! If it's Katherine, I will literally have NO faith in the writers of the show whatsoever. (Although, if it's Katherine that might put a stop to the Delena GARBAGE that's been going on recently... something to consider...)

On a side note, the restaurant I mentioned **is** fantastic and if you're ever in Riga you should definitely go there and give it a try! You won't regret it :)

* * *

><p>Finding Caroline<p>

Chapter 8

* * *

><p>Klaus helped Damon sneak into the hotel through the employee entrance and they only had to compel a couple of people on their way up. Once Damon got to the suite, Klaus left to go speak to and compel his security people – like Damon had suggested – to find out if a plan was in place to harm or kill him. Damon slipped into his suite and just as he was closing the door he heard...<p>

"Oh my God! What the hell happened?" Caroline exclaimed. He turned around and much to his surprise, Caroline and his siblings were in the suite sitting on the couches with drinks.

"We got attacked." Damon shrugged and they looked shocked.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked concerned and Damon nodded.

"No biggie." He smirked.

"I knew coming here was a bad idea." Gianna muttered and Damon scowled at her.

"It was _not _a bad idea, Gianna." Damon replied annoyed.

"How can you say that? You got attacked five minutes after we got here just because you were with Klaus!" Gianna replied just as annoyed.

"It wasn't like that. These vampires that were supposed to be loyal to him were trying to kill him because he was alone with me without his other back-up. They were traitors." Damon replied and Gianna rolled her eyes. She knew how much Damon despised traitors. "So I killed them." He said.

"Just you?" Vin asked him curiously.

"Well, yeah. Klaus was feeding and I was standing watch and that's when they showed up to kill him so I got them first. Chill out. He's on his way down to compel the others and find out if there are anymore traitors. It's not going to be an issue so just relax." He said.

"So you're not remotely worried about the fact he can compel us all?" Gianna asked him with narrowed eyes.

"But he won't." Damon replied.

"How do you know that? You've known the guy for five minutes." Gianna replied.

"I just _do_. Why don't you trust me?" Damon asked her and she looked surprised.

"I do trust you." She replied.

"Then why would you think I'd ever put you in a situation where harm could come to you?" He asked her seriously and she sighed.

"Well, I don't, but you... I'm just worried that you aren't being careful." She said concerned.

"I'm only saying this once, so don't forget it." Damon said to his sister and she cocked an eyebrow at him. "You three are who I love most in the world so I would never be careless when it comes to your safety." He said and she gave him a little smirk that told him she was calling him a sap in her head. "We can trust Klaus, Gianna. So please just disregard _this_..." He said motioning to his blood covered self. "And try to be less difficult because you _are _completely safe. I promise." He said and she sighed.

"Fine. But if at some point I don't feel safe, I'm dragging the three of you on the next flight out of here." She warned him.

"Fine." Damon agreed because that was the best he was going to get out of Gianna. "So why are the three of you up here anyway?" He asked.

"We were waiting for you to see if you wanted to go out to a club or something and the bar downstairs got really crowded and it sucked." Gianna replied and he chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not really in the mood for a club." Damon replied. "Anyway, I thought we were getting up early to take Caroline around Riga?" He asked his siblings.

"Well, yeah, but it's our first night here. We can't just go to bed like a bunch of old people." Gianna replied.

"With the exception of Caroline, we _are _a bunch of old people." Damon smirked and Caroline and Vin laughed while Gianna rolled her eyes.

"Speak for yourself." Gianna replied curtly and Damon sighed.

"Why don't you three just go clubbing then and _I'll _be the old guy who goes to bed early?" Damon asked amused.

"Oh, no." Gianna replied. "I don't think so, Damon. We all have to stick together so either you go shower and change and come with us or I'll get _incredibly _irritating to be around." She warned him and he scowled at her.

"How will that be different from any other time spent with you?" He asked her annoyed.

"How about we go clubbing for a couple of hours instead of all night so there's a compromise?" Vin asked hoping to avoid a shouting match between Damon and Gianna.

"Fine." Damon replied because he really wasn't in the mood to argue.

"Then go shower." Gianna instructed.

"Fine, but I'm not in the mood for your bull tonight, Gianna, so don't start." Damon warned her then went into the bathroom and she sighed.

"I need a drink." Gianna muttered then downed her champagne.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Damon was in the shower and Caroline was just doing her hair when there was a knock on the door. She got up and went to the door then opened it.<p>

"Good morning, Caroline." Klaus said and she smiled.

"Morning. Would you like to come in?" She asked moving out of the way and he gave her a smile in return.

"Thank you." He said then stepped inside and she closed the door behind him.

"Damon's just in the shower but I'm sure he'll just be a minute." She said leading him over to the couches.

"That's fine. Did you have a nice evening last night?" He asked her as the two of them sat down.

"It was great, actually. We went to a club called Depo because Damon refused to go anywhere else." She giggled and he chuckled.

"Why there?" He asked amused.

"Because it annoyed Gianna and she made him go out so the compromise was that we all went out but Damon got to pick where we went since he didn't want to go." Caroline said amused and Klaus laughed a little.

"And he picked that place in particular to annoy his sister?" Klaus asked amused and she giggled.

"Gianna likes upscale classy establishments and champagne but Depo is more like a hole in the wall with broken furniture, graffiti on the walls and beer." Caroline smirked and he chuckled.

"I can see why that would annoy her then." Klaus smirked and Caroline chuckled.

"Damon told us about the altercation, are you okay?" She asked him and he was visibly surprised by her concern for him.

"I am fine, thank you for asking. Though, Damon was the hero last night, not me." He said and she smiled.

"Well, I'm kind of biased, I see him that way all the time." She said and he laughed. "We're going into the city to look around today. Do you want to come with us?" She asked and he smiled.

"Thank you for asking but I have a meeting to go to in just over an hour. Perhaps we could go out for dinner this evening instead?" He suggested and she smiled.

"That sounds great." She agreed. "We'll no doubt see you at the other hotel later anyway." She said and he smiled.

"You will." He said.

"Have you had a look at The Dome? It's so amazing. I'm really looking forward to going there. I know it's just a hotel but I'm still excited about it." She smiled and he chuckled. He could understand why Damon cared about her so much – she was just so nice and full of life not to mention stunningly gorgeous.

"I haven't as yet but I'm sure I will like it too." He smiled and she grinned. She just thought Klaus was so nice.

"Where's a nice place to go for dinner?" She asked.

"Personally, I would recommend Charleston's restaurant. The food is incredible. I have eaten in many restaurants in Riga but I have not been more impressed with anywhere else." He said and she smiled.

"Sounds good." She agreed.

"That place _is _amazing for food." Damon commented as he walked into the room and Klaus smiled at him.

"Is it a habit of yours to walk around in a towel?" Klaus teased and Damon chuckled.

"Yes." Caroline said and they both chuckled.

"What can I say? I planned to jump Barbie before another excruciatingly _long _day of putting up with my sister." Damon shrugged and Klaus laughed a little while Caroline shot him a look.

"Be nice to Gianna, Damon." Caroline said.

"Why? She isn't nice to _me_." He countered and she sighed.

"Yes, she is. You just don't have any patience for her... eccentricities." Caroline replied and Damon chuckled.

"Don't you mean incredibly annoying habits that make you want to pull your hair out in frustration?" Damon replied and Klaus laughed.

"You're both just stubborn and unwilling to compromise." Caroline sighed and Damon smirked.

"I'm her sire. She's supposed to listen to me." Damon replied.

"You're also _my _sire but you don't go all moody when _I_ don't listen to you." She countered and they both laughed.

"Yes, but I love _you_ so that's different." He smirked and Klaus shot him an amused look while Caroline rolled her eyes.

"You're annoying." Caroline muttered then stood up and they both chuckled. "I'll finish getting ready." She said and Klaus gave her a smile then she wandered into the bedroom to finish doing her hair and Damon took a seat on the couch.

"Doesn't look like I'm getting any." Damon quipped and Klaus laughed. "Anyway, how'd it go? Find anymore traitors?" He asked and Klaus shook his head.

"No, it was only those two and the others knew nothing about it." Klaus replied and Damon nodded.

"Good. Think the old vampire talked them into it then?" Damon asked.

"I believe so." Klaus agreed.

"Are there more causes for concern?" Damon asked cocking an eyebrow.

"No, I don't think there are. I actually came to ask if you would like to accompany me this evening to a pre-ball cocktail reception. It is a business thing as opposed to the ball which will be the party." He said and Damon mulled that over.

"Why do you want me to go with you?" Damon asked and Klaus looked as though he was thinking that over.

"The majority of the vampires who will be attending are very old with large groups of allies. Although you are young in comparison, you behave as a much older vampire would. I thought perhaps it would interest you to meet them as it is never a bad thing to gain allies." He said and Damon nodded.

"And in what capacity would you want me to be there as?" He asked.

"As a friend." Klaus replied. "You do not work for me nor would I ever ask that of you." He said and internally Damon was kind of surprised. Klaus was basically saying that he wanted to take Damon there as an equal – and considering the age gap, it was quite flattering.

"I would gladly take you up on that, but I need to talk that over with Caroline first." Damon replied and Klaus understood as going to the business party would make Damon known to the vampire world. Klaus understood that making Damon known would in turn make Caroline known as the vampires would see them together at the ball.

"That is absolutely fine." Klaus agreed. "Think about it and you can let me know this evening." He said. "The cocktail evening does not start until 10pm." He added.

"Thank you." Damon replied. "I am up for Charleston's though so what time do you want to meet there?" He asked. "Or shall we go together from the other hotel?" He asked.

"I will be at the other hotel from 5pm no doubt, so we could leave together." Klaus replied.

"That's fine. Say, 7pm in the lobby?" Damon asked.

"Perfect." Klaus agreed.

* * *

><p>They chatted for a little while then Klaus left to go to his meeting. Caroline was just finished doing her makeup when Damon went into the bedroom of the suite.<p>

"So, we should probably talk about what Klaus said." Damon said to her and she looked at him with curiosity.

"I'm surprised you're not making this decision for yourself." She said and he shook his head.

"You're going to be my wife, that makes it your decision too. Going to this party won't just affect _me_." He said and she cocked an eyebrow.

"How?" She asked.

"Because meeting all of these vampires will put me on their radar. Especially going as Klaus' friend instead of a business partner or whatever." Damon replied and she thought about that.

"In other words, it could be dangerous." She said and he sighed and nodded.

"Everything has it's upsides and downsides. Upsides, this could be really useful in the long run. Downsides, it puts us in the line of fire should there ever be a problem." He said and Caroline sighed.

"Damon, the fact we accepted Klaus' invitation to attend the ball already put us in the line of fire." She said surprising him. "I think you should go to the meeting tonight." She added.

"You do?" He asked.

"I do." She agreed. "We live in a dangerous world already so anything that ups our survival chances, such as, strong and powerful allies, is a good thing in my book." She said. "But I don't think you should tell Gianna yet." She added and he was very surprised.

"Why?" Damon asked.

"You know I love Gianna." She said and he nodded. "But Gianna doesn't always think big picture and she's just convinced that association with Klaus will be a bad thing for us but I really don't think it will." She said. "I think after we've been to the ball, she will have had more time to talk to him and see that she's not in danger so she'll maybe be more willing to hear what you have to say about it." Caroline said. "Wait until we get home and she's back in her comfort zone." She added and Damon chuckled.

"Alright." He agreed. "Though, I have to tell Vin." He said. "He'd be hurt if I kept that from him."

"V trusts you, he'll understand why this is a good thing." Caroline said.

"Can you take Gio to some fashionista club tonight and distract her?" Damon asked and Caroline giggled.

"Yes. I have just the place in mind." She replied. She stood up and went over to where he stood, still in just a towel. She reached for it and pulled it off causing him to smirk when he saw her eyes roaming over his naked body. "Who said you weren't getting any?" She asked and he smiled deviously.

"If that's the case, you're wearing far too much." He said and she laughed.

"Then do something about it." She teased and in a flash, he did.

* * *

><p>The four of them spent the day walking around Riga. They visited historical sites, did some shopping and when Caroline spotted an adorable little tea house she made them go in for tea and cake. They took their things over to the other hotel and while Caroline got ready for dinner, Damon went to go speak to Vin about the meeting that evening, when he overheard Gianna in Vin's room. He was about to knock when he heard something strange...<p>

"_Why now, Vin?" She asked._

"_Because it's hard. It'll be easier to get over if I'm not always around her." He replied. Damon felt confused._

"_And what exactly are you going to tell Damon? You can't tell him the truth." She said and Damon felt a little pissed at that. He thought his brother __**did **__always tell him the truth._

"_We could just say that they deserve their privacy as a soon-to-be married couple." Vin said._

"_What do you mean 'we'? I love that apartment. Why are you bringing me into it?" She asked._

"_Oh, c'mon, Gio. Please don't be like that." He said._

"_Vin, this is your own fault. I told you months ago either make a move or get over it. Now it's too late." She said and Damon was even more confused._

"_I did make a move, Gio. She just didn't realise it meant more to me." Vin said._

"_That's because you kissed her when the two of you were out of your minds drunk then you never said anything else about it." Gianna replied. Damon was wondering who the hell Vin kissed because things weren't clicking in his brain yet._

"_I didn't say anything else about it because I found out the next day that the reason she was so drunk was because she was upset that Damon went on a date with Elena." Vin said and Damon's jaw dropped. He was putting two and two together and was not liking what it added up to._

"_She loves Damon. You need to get over her, Vin." Gianna said softly._

"_I know she loves Damon and that's fine with me. I want them both to be happy and they are. It's not like I'd ever try and come between them. I just don't think it'll help to be around her all the time so that's why I want to move to another apartment." He said and Damon felt like he was going to fall over in shock._

"_Fine, I'll move to another apartment with you but it better be just as nice, if not nicer." She warned and he chuckled._

"_It will be." He replied._

"_Vin, I just have to ask... Why didn't you ever tell her how you feel?" She asked. "Damon was with Elena then so it's not like she was his girl then." She added._

"_What was I supposed to say?" He asked her like she was stupid._

"_Uh... how about... Caroline, I'm in love with you, would you give me a chance?" Gianna replied using his tone against him. Damon's eyes were bugged at that._

"_And she would have said no because she wanted Damon which in turn would have made things awkward since I'd rather be friends with her than nothing at all." He said._

"_Why do you always do this? You never go after who you want." Gianna said._

"_She's marrying my brother." Vin replied indicating how obvious it was._

"_Yes, __**now **__it is too late. But if you had said something when you knew, things might be different. You should have told her at the time that it meant something when you kissed her." Gianna said and Damon couldn't __**believe **__Vin had kissed Caroline and nobody had told him that._

"_It doesn't matter anymore, Gio. All that matters is that I have to get over her as soon as possible because I refuse to ever lose Damon over something like this because I would never act on it." He said and though that comforted Damon, he was pissed that he didn't know about this kiss. He couldn't take it anymore so he grabbed the door handle and opened it before Gianna had a chance to reply._

Damon looked straight at his younger brother who was a little wide eyed as was Gianna as they waited with baited breath for Damon's reaction. Damon kicked the door closed behind him while his eyes stayed locked with Vin's. He crossed his arms over his chest and his expression was calm with a hint of anger and that didn't bode well.

"So you're in love with Caroline, you kissed her, you want to move out so you won't be around her and nobody told me this because...?" Damon asked with narrowed eyes and Vin gulped...


End file.
